Identification and understanding of the immunogenicity of SARS-Cov-2 in humans is crucial, both for vaccine development and for understanding disease severity and long-term viral immunity.

T cells are the main cell type to control and eliminate viral infections and research from the ongoing pandemic suggests that antigen-specific T cells are indeed critical for long-term protection against SARS-CoV2. A complete understanding of the role of T cells in COVID19 requires mapping of T cell epitopes across the whole viral genome.

MHC tetramers and specifically empty MHC tetramers can be useful for:

• Determining which epitopes in SARS-Cov-2 are recognized by CD8+ T
• Identifying immunogenic active regions (hotspots) of the viral genome
• Describing phenotype and functional characteristics of T cells during COVID19
• Determining the kinetics of the T cell response