(Vincenzo Morello/ Radio-Canada International) — Researchers from the University of Saskatchewan are leading the development of a new test that will be able to detect SARS-Cov-2 proteins in saliva, according to a press release from the University of Saskatchewan last Thursday.
Dr. Walter Siqueira of the University of Saskatchewan College of Dentistry, in collaboration with Dr. Jun Yang at Western University is also developing a prototype device for saliva testing which is roughly the size of a cell phone, and will work similar to pregnancy tests.
The device will have an indicator that will change to a certain colour when the virus biomarker combines with SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, which means there is presence of COVID-19 within the saliva.
The saliva test is designed to be less invasive, more sensitive, would take less than five minutes to get a result, and is easy to be done by people at home or in remote locations, according to the press release.
“One of the advantages of working with saliva is that you don’t need a specialized person to collect the saliva. It’s basically just spit in a tube and you have the saliva,” Siqueira said. (…)