In 2019, a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) was found to cause a highly contagious disease characterized by pneumonia. The disease (COVID-19) quickly spread around the globe, escalating to a global pandemic. In this review, we discuss the virological, immunological, and imaging approaches harnessed for COVID-19 diagnosis and research. COVID-19 shares many clinical characteristics with other respiratory illnesses.

Accurate and early detection of the infection is pivotal to controlling the outbreak, as this enables case identification, isolation, and contact tracing. We summarize the available literature on current laboratory and point-of-care diagnostics, highlight their strengths and limitations, and describe the emerging diagnostic approaches on the horizon.

We also discuss the various research techniques that are being used to evaluate host immunity in laboratory-confirmed patients. Additionally, pathological imaging of tissue samples from affected patients has a critical role in guiding investigations on this disease. Conventional techniques, such as immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence, have been frequently used to characterize the immune microenvironment in COVID-19. We also outline the emerging imaging techniques, such as the RNAscope, which might also aid in our understanding of the significance of COVID-19-specific biomarkers, such as the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) cellular receptor.

Overall, great progress has been made in COVID-19 research in a short period. Extensive, global collation of our current knowledge of SARS-CoV-2 will provide insights into novel treatment modalities, such as monoclonal antibodies, and support the development of a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine.

2019年，一种新型冠状病毒（SARS-CoV-2）被发现会引起一种以肺炎为特征的高度传染性疾病。这种疾病 (COVID-19) 迅速在全球蔓延，升级为全球大流行。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了用于 COVID-19 诊断和研究的病毒学、免疫学和影像学方法。COVID-19 与其他呼吸道疾病有许多共同的临床特征。

准确和早期发现感染对于控制疫情至关重要，因为这可以实现病例识别、隔离和接触者追踪。我们总结了有关当前实验室和即时诊断的现有文献，强调了它们的优势和局限性，并描述了即将出现的新兴诊断方法。

我们还讨论了用于评估实验室确诊患者宿主免疫力的各种研究技术。此外，来自受影响患者的组织样本的病理成像在指导对该疾病的调查方面具有关键作用。常规技术，如免疫组织化学和免疫荧光，经常用于表征 COVID-19 中的免疫微环境。我们还概述了新兴的成像技术，例如 RNAscope，这也可能有助于我们理解 COVID-19 特异性生物标志物的重要性，例如血管紧张素转换酶 2 (ACE2) 细胞受体。

总体而言，COVID-19 研究在短期内取得了很大进展。对我们目前对 SARS-CoV-2 的了解进行广泛的全球整理，将提供对新型治疗方式（例如单克隆抗体）的见解，并支持 SARS-CoV-2 疫苗的开发。