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A Rutgers University research professor who developed the first saliva test for the coronavirus has died unexpectedly, the college said.
Andrew Brooks, 51, from New Jersey, died on Jan.23, the university said in a statement, without giving details.
As COO and Director of Technology Development at RUCDR Infinite Biologics, Brooks led the development effort for the COVID-19 saliva test.
The test received emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration in April and a month later it was approved for home use.
More than 4 million rapid response tests have been performed since March, Rutgers University said.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy paid tribute to Brooks at a press briefing last week, calling him “one of our state’s unsung heroes.”
Murphy said the Rutgers COVID-19 test had “no doubt saved lives” by praising the legacy Brooks left behind.
“We can’t thank Andy enough for everything he has done during his career,” said Murphy. “He will be sadly missed by many. ”
Jay Tischfield, founder and CEO of RUCDR, said in a statement that Brooks “will be remembered by the great cohort of scientists whose research he has facilitated for many years.
Brooks was a research professor at the Rutgers New Brunswick School of Arts and Sciences in the Department of Genetics, an academic fellow of the New Jersey Institute of Human Genetics, a research faculty member of the Institute of Science of Rutgers Environmental and Occupational Health and a member of its NIHS Center of Excellence.
He was also a member of the graduate studies faculty of the Rutgers Joint Graduate Program in Toxicology.
Brooks received his doctorate in neuroscience from the University of Rochester and later became his director of basic medical center facilities. Four years later, he returned to New Jersey to head the Rutgers / UMDNJ EOHSI Bionomics Joint Research and Technology Center.
He has co-authored over 70 publications and “played a key role” in providing consultation, biobank and analytical services to many large research projects “that have provided insight into the genomic etiology of diseases. and the effects of environmental exposures, ”said Rutgers.
Brooks also served for 17 years as an adviser to the FDA as director of the Harlan (now Envigo) GeneScreen Laboratory and as a co-founder of the BioProcessing Solutions Alliance.
He is survived by his wife, Jil; three daughters, Lauren, Hannah and Danielle; her mother, Phyllis Brooks, her sister, Janet Green, as well as a niece and nephew.
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