Oxford Immunotec announced that its T-SPOT®Discovery SARS-CoV-2 kit will be used for T cell testing in the DIRECT study. Oxford Immunotec is collaborating with researchers at the University of Leicester on DIRECT (Determining the Immune Response in Ethnic minority healthcare workers to COVID-19 infection). The study, funded through the National Core Studies group, is actively recruiting healthcare workers in Leicester for detailed analysis of their immune response to infection and /or vaccination (including T cells). This analysis, together with information collected through online questionnaires, will enable researchers to understand whether there are differences in the immune response in different ethnic minority groups, including whether there are differences in the magnitude and duration of this response. The custom version of the T-SPOT Discovery SARS-CoV-2 kit (for research use only) will be used to assess if the vaccination induces a T cell response in study subjects. The kit uses the T-SPOT technology platform, a commercialized, modified ELISPOT platform, which allows for the standardized and reproducible measurement of T cells reactive to SARS-CoV-2. Testing for an immune response using T cells may offer several advantages over conventional antibody testing due to the limitations reported with antibodies, such as antibodies not being present after infection and antibodies waning over time. The T-SPOT Discovery SARS-CoV-2 test has also demonstrated in previous studies that a high SARS-CoV-2 specific T cell response may be associated with protection from infection.