Andrew Brooks, Designer of COVID-19 Saliva Test, Dies at 51

The Rutgers University researcher created the first FDA-authorized spit test, which has since been used by millions of people.

Written byAmanda Heidt

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Obituary, obituaries, Rutgers university, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, coronavirus, pandemic, saliva, diagnostics, disease & medicine, saliva testing, techniques

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ABOVE: Andrew Brooks photographed in April 2020 at the RUCDR Infinite Biologics soon after the Rutgers COVID-19 saliva test received emergency approval from the FDA.
NICK ROMANENKO

Andrew Brooks, a molecular neuroscientist who developed the first COVID-19 saliva test to receive emergency use authorization by the US Food and Drug Administration, died on January 23 of a heart attack. He was 51.

In the early days of the pandemic, when testing resources such as swabs and reagents were scarce, Brooks’s saliva test offered a fast and reliable way to screen large numbers of people. The test, which he designed while head of the Rutgers-affiliated biorepository RUCDR Infinite Biologics, protected essential workers from exposure to the virus as they collected samples by doing away with the need for technicians to be on-hand to gather the fluid—people could simply spit into a cup. The FDA first authorized the test in April 2020, and ...

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Meet the Author

Amanda Heidt
Amanda first began dabbling in scicom as a master’s student studying marine science at Moss Landing Marine Labs, where she edited the student blog and interned at a local NPR station. She enjoyed that process of demystifying science so much that after receiving her degree in 2019, she went straight into a second master’s program in science communication at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Formerly an intern at The Scientist, Amanda joined the team as a staff reporter and editor in 2021 and oversaw the publication’s internship program, assigned and edited the Foundations, Scientist to Watch, and Short Lit columns, and contributed original reporting across the publication. Amanda’s stories often focus on issues of equity and representation in academia, and she brings this same commitment to DEI to the Science Writers Association of the Rocky Mountains and to the board of the National Association of Science Writers, which she has served on since 2022. She is currently based in the outdoor playground that is Moab, Utah. Read more of her work at www.amandaheidt.com.
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