EXCLUSIVE: UCSF lab says secret to killing COVID-19 variants may lie in targeting human protein KGO Share: SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- There are multiple COVID-19 variants circulating the Bay Area, making it harder for this pandemic to be under control. ABC7 News reporter Luz Pena got an exclusive look at a UCSF lab where scientists are studying the mutated genes of the COVID-19 variants, hoping to figure out the best drugs to kill it. "We were the first lab in the world back about a year ago to clone each of these genes," said Dr. Nevan Krogan, director of UCSF's Department of Quantitative Biosciences Institute.