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Simons Foundation

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A new method can quickly diagnose COVID-19 more accurately than existing approaches. The technique is based on how the body expresses genes in response to infections. When a gene is expressed, different segments of the gene create different mRNA isoforms. The mix of those isoforms changes the types of proteins produced, including proteins involved in fighting viruses. By measuring the relative abundance of various isoforms, the new method can confidently identify when the body is mounting an immune response to the COVID-19 virus.

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Kouzou Sakai/Simons Foundation

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