Rutgers Launches Fast-Results Saliva Testing For Coronavirus

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — Rutgers University announced Wednesday their genetics department has new technology that can test as many as tens of thousands of saliva samples in one day for coronavirus.

The testing is done on human spit samples, and it was created at Rutgers’ RUCDR Infinite Biologics, part of Rutgers’ Human Genetics Institute of New Jersey.

Current testing for the SARS-CoV-2 virus involves nose or throat samples. But Rutgers scientists say saliva testing would be a new development, and would allow testing without the need of a medical provider to take the sample.

Even better, Rutgers researchers say the results could be available within three days. Currently, it can take up to 10 days to get coronavirus test results.

New Jersey Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli told NJ.com the Rutgers test could be "a game changer."

“If approved, this would be a game changer in what we know about Sars CoV 2 and how we go forward controlling the spread of this virus,” Persichilli told NJ.com Wednesday.

“We can accept hundreds to thousands of samples for analysis per day now and potentially will be able to test tens of thousands of samples daily in the next several weeks,” said Andrew Brooks, the director of technology development at RUCDR Infinite Biologics. He is also a genetics professor at Rutgers.

The test is available now and based on a Nobel Prize-winning laboratory technique that makes millions of copies of the virus' nucleic acid (in this case RNA) in a sample.

The test is currently available with a doctor's referral only to those within the RWJ Barnabas Health network, a Rutgers partner. That includes healthcare works at all the Robert Wood Johnson hospitals, University Hospital in Newark and several county health departments.

Rutgers has submitted an emergency use authorization request to request saliva from the public, which the school says will allow for broader population screening. Healthcare workers and first responders would get first priority, said Rutgers.