SOUTH CAROLINA: Thousands of tubes of spit are saving lives on college campuses across SC. Here's how.
A gentle hum can be heard from a lab in the depths of the University of South Carolina's life sciences building. Take a peek inside, and you'll find something unusual. Thousands of tubes of the spit belonging to the university's students, faculty, staff and Columbia residents.
Almost a year ago, the school's colon cancer lab changed course from its usual area of study and started analyzing how it could help as COVID-19 ravaged the world, killing hundreds of thousands across the country and shutting down campuses.
USC professors had a breakthrough when they started studying saliva there, said biomedical sciences professor Phillip Buckhaults.
The lab is testing about 2,000 samples a day and returning samples within 24 hours, and its reach is beyond the Midlands. Quick-turnaround testing allows people to identify themselves as COVID-19-positive earlier and isolate themselves, reducing the spread of the virus and saving lives.
The testing is able to recognize different variants of COVID-19 as well.
“If there’s a new variant that comes up, we’ll also be able to identify it, not just delta,” said laboratory director and professor Carolyn Banister.
The testing technology has expanded across the state. UofSC satellite campuses, as well as Clemson University, Winthrop University, the College of Charleston and Trident Technical College are able to use the saliva tests created at the UofSC lab.