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Anne Wyllie, PhD

Research Scientist in Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases)

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Anne Wyllie, PhD

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Research Summary

As compared to the gold standard nasopharyngeal swab, my research has identified saliva as a reliable sample type for the sensitive detection of Streptococcus pneumoniae (the pneumococcus) in healthy older adults and more recently, SARS-CoV-2 in persons suspected of Covid-19. Improved detection of the pneumococcus has unveiled more frequent colonization of older individuals than contemporary studies report on which holds importance when new vaccination strategies for preventing pneumococcal disease are being considered. For SARS-CoV-2, the use of saliva as an alternative sample type can alleviate many of the bottlenecks encountered in the mass testing strategies required to control continuing outbreaks. In an effort to address many of these issues, we further validated and optimized saliva for SARS-CoV-2 detection and developed SalivaDirect: a simple, scalable and importantly, cost-effective method to help alleviate SARS-CoV-2 testing demands.

Coauthors

Research Interests

Aged; Carrier State; Epidemiology; Microbiology; Pneumococcal Infections; Pneumonia, Pneumococcal; Public Health; Respiratory Tract Infections; Saliva; Streptococcus pneumoniae; Coronavirus Infections; Pneumococcal Vaccines; Molecular Diagnostic Techniques; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; Microbiota

Public Health Interests

Community Health; Infectious Diseases; Maternal & Child Health; Respiratory Disease/Infections; Microbiome; COVID-19

Research Image

Stylized DNA helix of pneumococcus

Selected Publications

  • Saliva or Nasopharyngeal Swab Specimens for Detection of SARS-CoV-2.Wyllie AL, Fournier J, Casanovas-Massana A, Campbell M, Tokuyama M, Vijayakumar P, Warren JL, Geng B, Muenker MC, Moore AJ, Vogels CBF, Petrone ME, Ott IM, Lu P, Venkataraman A, Lu-Culligan A, Klein J, Earnest R, Simonov M, Datta R, Handoko R, Naushad N, Sewanan LR, Valdez J, White EB, Lapidus S, Kalinich CC, Jiang X, Kim DJ, Kudo E, Linehan M, Mao T, Moriyama M, Oh JE, Park A, Silva J, Song E, Takahashi T, Taura M, Weizman OE, Wong P, Yang Y, Bermejo S, Odio CD, Omer SB, Dela Cruz CS, Farhadian S, Martinello RA, Iwasaki A, Grubaugh ND, Ko AI. Saliva or Nasopharyngeal Swab Specimens for Detection of SARS-CoV-2. The New England Journal Of Medicine 2020, 383: 1283-1286. PMID: 32857487, PMCID: PMC7484747, DOI: 10.1056/NEJMc2016359.
  • Analytical sensitivity and efficiency comparisons of SARS-CoV-2 RT-qPCR primer-probe sets.Vogels CBF, Brito AF, Wyllie AL, Fauver JR, Ott IM, Kalinich CC, Petrone ME, Casanovas-Massana A, Catherine Muenker M, Moore AJ, Klein J, Lu P, Lu-Culligan A, Jiang X, Kim DJ, Kudo E, Mao T, Moriyama M, Oh JE, Park A, Silva J, Song E, Takahashi T, Taura M, Tokuyama M, Venkataraman A, Weizman OE, Wong P, Yang Y, Cheemarla NR, White EB, Lapidus S, Earnest R, Geng B, Vijayakumar P, Odio C, Fournier J, Bermejo S, Farhadian S, Dela Cruz CS, Iwasaki A, Ko AI, Landry ML, Foxman EF, Grubaugh ND. Analytical sensitivity and efficiency comparisons of SARS-CoV-2 RT-qPCR primer-probe sets. Nature Microbiology 2020, 5: 1299-1305. PMID: 32651556, PMCID: PMC9241364, DOI: 10.1038/s41564-020-0761-6.
  • Streptococcus pneumoniae in saliva of Dutch primary school children.Wyllie AL, Chu ML, Schellens MH, van Engelsdorp Gastelaars J, Jansen MD, van der Ende A, Bogaert D, Sanders EA, Trzciński K. Streptococcus pneumoniae in saliva of Dutch primary school children. PloS One 2014, 9: e102045. PMID: 25013895, PMCID: PMC4094488, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0102045.
  • Carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae in aged adults with influenza-like-illness.Krone CL, Wyllie AL, van Beek J, Rots NY, Oja AE, Chu ML, Bruin JP, Bogaert D, Sanders EA, Trzciński K. Carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae in aged adults with influenza-like-illness. PloS One 2015, 10: e0119875. PMID: 25789854, PMCID: PMC4366201, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0119875.
  • Molecular surveillance on Streptococcus pneumoniae carriage in non-elderly adults; little evidence for pneumococcal circulation independent from the reservoir in children.Wyllie AL, Rümke LW, Arp K, Bosch AA, Bruin JP, Rots NY, Wijmenga-Monsuur AJ, Sanders EA, Trzciński K. Molecular surveillance on Streptococcus pneumoniae carriage in non-elderly adults; little evidence for pneumococcal circulation independent from the reservoir in children. Scientific Reports 2016, 6: 34888. PMID: 27713565, PMCID: PMC5054371, DOI: 10.1038/srep34888.
  • Superiority of trans-oral over trans-nasal sampling in detecting Streptococcus pneumoniae colonization in adults.Trzciński K, Bogaert D, Wyllie A, Chu ML, van der Ende A, Bruin JP, van den Dobbelsteen G, Veenhoven RH, Sanders EA. Superiority of trans-oral over trans-nasal sampling in detecting Streptococcus pneumoniae colonization in adults. PloS One 2013, 8: e60520. PMID: 23555985, PMCID: PMC3610877, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0060520.
  • Sequencing of the variable region of rpsB to discriminate between Streptococcus pneumoniae and other streptococcal species.Wyllie AL, Pannekoek Y, Bovenkerk S, van Engelsdorp Gastelaars J, Ferwerda B, van de Beek D, Sanders EAM, Trzciński K, van der Ende A. Sequencing of the variable region of rpsB to discriminate between Streptococcus pneumoniae and other streptococcal species. Open Biology 2017, 7 PMID: 28931649, PMCID: PMC5627049, DOI: 10.1098/rsob.170074.
  • Molecular surveillance of nasopharyngeal carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae in children vaccinated with conjugated polysaccharide pneumococcal vaccines.Wyllie AL, Wijmenga-Monsuur AJ, van Houten MA, Bosch AATM, Groot JA, van Engelsdorp Gastelaars J, Bruin JP, Bogaert D, Rots NY, Sanders EAM, Trzciński K. Molecular surveillance of nasopharyngeal carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae in children vaccinated with conjugated polysaccharide pneumococcal vaccines. Scientific Reports 2016, 6: 23809. PMID: 27046258, PMCID: PMC4820691, DOI: 10.1038/srep23809.
  • Dysbiosis of upper respiratory tract microbiota in elderly pneumonia patients.de Steenhuijsen Piters WA, Huijskens EG, Wyllie AL, Biesbroek G, van den Bergh MR, Veenhoven RH, Wang X, Trzciński K, Bonten MJ, Rossen JW, Sanders EA, Bogaert D. Dysbiosis of upper respiratory tract microbiota in elderly pneumonia patients. The ISME Journal 2016, 10: 97-108. PMID: 26151645, PMCID: PMC4681870, DOI: 10.1038/ismej.2015.99.
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