Ep. 6: “Within Spitting Distance of Saliva!”

In episode 6, we’re not reading tea leaves -  we’re reading saliva! Saliva is a particularly interesting series of compounds that can tell a surprisingly detailed story of a person’s health, and it can be used to test for a variety of different biomarkers which can correlate to a particular disease state, including tests for HIV antibodies, SARS-CoV-2, and even certain forms of cancer! From Yale University’s SalivaDirect protocol for Covid-19 detection to dentists looking to test for oral cancer while they fill a cavity, commonly using saliva as a convenient sample is within spitting distance!