2026 · Journal of microbiological methods · paywalled
Comparison of self-collected oral swabs for supragingival microbiome characterization using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing
Rooney et al.
The finding, in our words
Participants preferred the Omnigene and Zymo oral swabs for comfort and ease of use, whilst the Omnigene device yielded the highest median bacterial DNA concentration compared to the other devices. The results indicate that the choice of self-collection device impacts both patient acceptability and DNA yield for oral microbiome analysis.
A paraphrase to the Library’s standard, never the abstract. The source is one link away and is always the authority.
Saliva samples collected using the OMNIgene ORAL device and oral wash samples remain stable for microbiome diversity and relative abundance analyses for up to five years when stored at -80°C. This supports the use of these self-collection methods for long-term prospective biobanking and decentralised clinical studies.
In a one-week virtual home clinic with 134 participants, 86 per cent returned saliva and 84 per cent returned stool, and most components were feasible and acceptable despite device and logistical challenges. This supports decentralised, patient-centric self-collection of non-blood biospecimens for research.
In a cross-sectional study of 90 adolescents, 94 per cent provided at least one salivary sample and 89 per cent supplied a stool sample, with high adherence to study instructions, indicating that self-collection of these biospecimens is feasible and acceptable in this age group.
The study found that minimally invasive self-sampling at home was acceptable to most families, with saliva and hand sampling well tolerated across all ages and nasal sampling mainly accepted by adults and children over five. This supports the use of decentralised, patient-centric microsampling for long-term community surveillance of microbiota.
The CandyCollect lollipop-inspired device achieved 100% concordance with commercial oral swabs and spit tubes for detecting salivary bacteria in 14 healthy adults who self-collected samples at home. Among 26 participants surveyed, the device was ranked highest for user preference, and it showed a one-year shelf life at room temperature, indicating potential for decentralised diagnostics and telemedicine applications.