In a time, where many European countries are taking their first, tentative steps towards re-opening after lockdown, it is becoming more and more important to be able to test if people has already had the COVID-19 infection. Detection of antibodies against the virus (SARS-CoV-2 / nCov-2019) is one of the best measures for this.
Antibodies are large and robust proteins, and their presence in patient blood / plasma can be detected with rather simple methods, where the ability of the antibodies to bind to the virus spikes is utilized. For more details, see this animation I have made. Once again, Frédéric Eghiaian has created the amazing music for this animation.
Knowledge about the body’s antibody response is also important for the development of an efficient and safe vaccine against COVID-19 and treatment options like immunotherapy.