W. Ian Lipkin is a professor in the Epidemiology Department and directs the Center for Infection and Immunity (CII). His team aims (create) new tools to detect (查明) disease faster and easier to better contain epidemics (传染病).

Lipkin played  key role in containing the SARS virus outbreak by creatinga test using a polymerase (聚合酶) chain (react) method for detection, even in blood samples (样本) with mild infection, which was (quick) than other methods.

Lipkin and his team have since improved the technology to create a test called VirCapSeq-vert, screens a single sample for the presence of hundreds viruses. This tool contains 2 million genetic probes to detect and "pull out" unique DNA sequences (序列) in order to identify the virus type. This platform could (complete) change how first responders react to deadly outbreaks, quicken the process of (identify) diseases, make patients separated and improve (tailor) medical treatments.

Currently, they (make) the technology detect bacterial DNA to provide a full picture of infections.