Journal: medRxiv

Article Title: SalivaSTAT: Direct-PCR and pooling of saliva samples collected in healthcare and community setting for SARS-CoV-2 mass surveillance

doi: 10.1101/2020.11.23.20236901

Figure Lengend Snippet: Schematic overview of sample processing and SARAS-CoV-2 assay workflow depicting main steps: Saliva samples collected in healthcare and community setting were tested and validated as follows: Upper panel: Saliva samples processed with SalivaAll protocol for nucleic acid extraction using a semi-automated instrument, followed by RT-PCR for N, ORF1ab gene targets and IC used as extraction and RT-PCR internal control; Middle panel: Saliva samples processed with SalivaSTAT method that included treatment of samples at 95° C for 30 minutes and homogenization using a bead mill homogenizer followed by direct RT-PCR; Lower panel: Saliva samples homogenized using a bead mill before pooling samples with a five-sample pooling strategy followed by SalivaSTAT method for SARS-CoV-2 testing.

Article Snippet: The SalivaSTAT method was optimized with the following conditions: saliva collected in the media-free Omni tubes was subjected to 95°C for 30 minutes followed by homogenization at 4.5 m/s for 30 seconds using the Omni bead mill homogenizer (Omni International, USA).

Techniques: Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction, Homogenization