Biography

Kelsey Heard is a Laboratory Associate at Quantigen in Fishers, IN, specializing in Mycobacterium tuberculosis diagnostics. Her research emphasizes optimization of direct-to-PCR workflows of tongue swabs and sputum sample types to enhance molecular detection in low-resource settings. Kelsey has been engaged in research since 2019 and has a broad range of experience from STEM education to molecular biology. Her current work reflects a commitment to advancing public health through innovative diagnostic approaches and expanding healthcare accessibility where its needed most.

Expertise

TB Diagnostics
Public Health

Key Impacts

Equivalency for HIV: Tongue swabs offer robust alternative to sputum testing for PLHIV

Copan swabs tested on qPCR had similar detection regardless of HIV status, with comparable sensitivity to sputum on Ultra in PLHIV across all swab tests. Tongue swab collection and qPCR protocols with equivalent sensitivity regardless of HIV status present a new diagnostic opportunity for PLHIV and may continue to improve with further optimization.

Source: Conference 2024