Real-time polymerase chain reaction
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Also known as: Quantitative PCR (qPCR).
Like PCR, but the amplification machine measures the concentration of DNA at each step.
This describes one possible concentration detection method with fluorescent molecules that only become fluorescent when the DNA is double stranded (SYBR Green)
Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) - Quantitative PCR (qPCR) by Applied Biological Materials (2016)
Source. This allows you to predict the exact initial concentration by extrapolating the exponential curve backwards.
TODO: vs non-real-time PCR. Why can't you just divide by 2 for every heating step to reach back the original concentration? Likely the reaction reach saturation at an unknown step.
TODO: vs non-real-time PCR in medical diagnostics: do you really need to know concentration for diagnostics? Isn't it enough to know if the virus is present or not?