Molecular Targets for the Testing of COVID-19

Abstract

The pandemic outbreaks of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), spread all over the world in a short period of time. Efficient identification of the infection by SARS-CoV-2 has been one of the most important tasks to facilitate all the following counter measurements in dealing with the infectious disease. In Taiwan, a COVID-19 Open Science Platform adheres to the spirit of open science: sharing sources, data, and methods to promote progress in academic research while corroborating findings from various disciplines has established in mid-February 2020, for collaborative research in support of the development of detection methods, therapeutics, and a vaccine for COVID-19. Research priorities include infection control, epidemiology, clinical characterization and management, detection methods (including viral RNA detection, viral antigen detection, and serum antibody detection), therapeutics (neutralizing antibody and small molecule drugs), vaccines, and SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis. In addition, research on social ethics and the law are included to take full account of the impact of the COVID-19 virus.