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Medical Definition of Radioimmunoprecipitation assay
1. Sensitive assay using radiolabelled antigens to detect specific antibodies in serum. The antigens are allowed to react with the serum and then precipitated using a special reagent such as protein a sepharose beads. The bound radiolabelled immunoprecipitate is then commonly analyzed by gel electrophoresis. Radioimmunoprecipitation assay (ripa) is often used as a confirmatory test for diagnosing the presence of HIV antibodies. (12 Dec 1998)