The University at Buffalo is doing anything they can to find ways to fight COVID-19. The school has a new program that examines rapid antibody testing.

Dr. Gene Morse, the director of the Center for Integrated Global Biomedical Sciences at UB, said his team is interested in both qualitative and quantitative ways of antibody testing.

"Qualitative is used like a screening test because it’s a little simpler to do, and quantitative usually requires a blood sample going to the lab," Morse said.

Antigens are a substance that causes your immune system to produce antibodies against it. This means your immune system does not recognize the substance, which in this case is the coronavirus, and is trying to fight it off.

"As you have the infection, whether is symptomatic or asymptomatic, eventually your body would produce antibodies and those antibodies will help you get better," Morse said.

Doctor Morse says there are two types of antibodies that our body makes to fight off and help maintain long term protection against a virus. Part of his research is to figure out how to produce more of these antibodies.

"We're trying to figure out if it's important or not," Morse added.

Morse said there are many puzzle pieces to research on the coronavirus. He says he's optimistic that eventually the pieces will fit together giving them better ideas for how to treat the illness.

"There are a lot of pharmaceutical companies and university working on this so hopeful in the next four to six months how close we are," Morse said.