Microsoft is launching a “plasmabot” to help find a treatment for COVID-19. This plasmabot will facilitate the transfusion of convalescent plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients and will be part of the giant tech company’s work with the CoVig-19 Plasma Alliance.

Plasmabot is a self-screening tool that will check whether recovered COVID-19 patients are qualified to donate their plasma in the hopes of creating a cure for the disease. To determine their eligibility, the bot will ask the recovered patients about their medications, their allergies, previous surgeries, and other medical conditions.

The goal of the screening is to make sure that the plasma donation is safe for both the donor and the recipient. Once a recovered patient is found eligible to donate, he will be directed to where he can make his plasma donation.

Plasma donation takes an hour to complete and involves separating and collecting plasma from the blood of the donor. Once the red and white blood cells are put back into the body of the recovered patient, the antibodies from the plasma will be concentrated into a liquid form and will be used to create a medication that can treat the novel coronavirus.

Scientists believe that antibodies in the blood of recovered patients may be effective in treating the novel coronavirus, as plasma infusions have reportedly helped some COVID-19 patients recover faster. This type of treatment was first used to treat diphtheria during the 1918 flu pandemic. It was also used to treat people with diseases like SARS, chickenpox and measles.

“The sooner recovered COVID-19 patients donate convalescent plasma, the sooner the Alliance may be able to start manufacturing a potential therapy and begin clinical trials,” the CoVig-10 Plasma Alliance wrote in a statement. “These trials will determine if this therapy could treat patients who are at risk for serious complications from COVID-19.”

As of now, researchers in the U.S. are still running controlled studies on plasma infusion treatments for COVID-19 patients. While plasma infusions have helped some COVID-19 patients recover well, experts say it is too early to tell how effective it is in treating COVID-19.

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