CSIRO is sponsoring SalSA 2021, an online symposium showcasing cutting-edge saliva research.
The aim of SalSA 2021 (Saliva Symposium Australia) is to present new saliva-related research, including technological advances and translation pathways to personalised health & medicine.
This online symposium will run from Tuesday 8 – Thursday 10 of June. Running one morning session per day. Some of the topics covered include salivaomics, Alzheimer’s disease, cardiovascular disease, cancer, health and disease diagnostics, aging and commercial as well as future technologies.
Why saliva?
Our oral fluid is a rich source of biomarkers that can inform researchers about different diseases and it has many advantages over other fluids, like urine or blood, which may be less accessible or practical to manage under certain circumstances. Additionally, collecting saliva is non-invasive, requires a lower biosafety classification, and requires less specialized personnel.
So, what can you learn from analysing human saliva? Quite a lot. For example,
- Salivary biomarkers can help detect certain cancers, with 85% accuracy, according to one review.
- Salivary Biomarkers may help diagnose Stress, Anxiety and Depression, according to a recent study.
- Salivary biomarkers may be a useful tool for understanding oral and peripheral inflammation dynamics.
“Saliva can be self-collected through low-cost, non-invasive processes and stored at ambient temperature, offering excellent benefits for diagnostic purposes,” says Dr Wayne Leifert, from CSIRO, who is organising the seminar and also leads projects using saliva biomarkers.
“Since the future of human health resides in innovative platforms that are amenable to fluids such as biosensors and point-of-care devices that can extract real time information on the health status of an individual, we moved our research in non-invasive tissue from buccal cells to saliva,” he added.
SALSA 20201
The online symposium aims to garner attention to this growing field, as well as to facilitate and encourage future research, including the development of new technologies, and the establishment of novel collaborations.
A good example of new technologies promoted by this symposium is the development of small, portable, and rapid processing technologies for saliva samples, Dr Leifert explains. Such technologies may allow for fast identification of health issues, leading to early access to treatment, a crucial aspect for diseases like cancer.
“The faster turnaround allows more rapid communication and decision making, earlier initiation of therapy, better adherence to treatment, and greater patient satisfaction. It also has economic advantages including lower costs to perform tests, fewer doctor visits, fewer hospital admissions to run tests, and improved quality of life,” Dr Leifert said.
The SALSA 2021 symposium will cover a broad range of issues around the field of saliva science and will host several leading researchers, who will present novel research and technologies. Some of the fields that will be covered in the symposium include proteins/Proteomics, messenger RNAs/micro-RNAs (mi-RNAs)/Transcriptomics and metabolic compounds/Metabolomics (including lipids/Lipidomics).
“This symposium will enable CSIRO to build on this research and establish saliva as the new standard in commonly used diagnostic fluids. Ongoing studies already indicate that saliva may be useful for detecting various cancers, heart disease, diabetes, periodontal diseases, and other medical conditions,” Dr Leifert said.
Basic info
Link to the event: https://events.csiro.au/Events/2021/February/5/Saliva-Symposium-Australia
Contact information:
A/Prof Wayne Leifert, wayne.leifert@csiro.au;
Dr Maxime Francois, maxime.francois@csiro.au.
Price: Free