For the past three weeks, Princeton students on campus have been spitting in tubes twice a week, putting those tubes into drop boxes not unlike a library deposit, and waiting around a day to find out whether or not they need to quarantine. This test for SARS-CoV-2, the RNA virus that causes COVID-19, has become a bit of a magic black box. What goes on between drop off and results? And what’s up with the research we students can opt in for? Today, we sit down with Dan Notterman, a lecturer and researcher with the rank of Professor in the Molecular Biology department, to find out more. 

Episode by Mark Dodici. Photo via Denise Applewhite / Office of Communications.