diff --git a/workflow/rna-seq.nf b/workflow/rna-seq.nf
index 93ff65c89a8b26a113b67387348bf3a1be2dd3b7..1ed7d14712c0da90eca6644a5f40a3325cfffaf4 100644
--- a/workflow/rna-seq.nf
+++ b/workflow/rna-seq.nf
@@ -1876,9 +1876,8 @@ process aggrQC {
     multiqc -c ${multiqcConfig} . -n ${repRID}.multiqc.html
     cp ${repRID}.multiqc_data/multiqc_data.json ${repRID}.multiqc_data.json
 
-  rpt=`cat ${repRID}.multiqc_data.json`
   curl -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -X PUT -d \
-    \${rpt} \
+    @./${repRID}.multiqc_data.json \
     "https://9ouc12dkwb.execute-api.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/prod/db/qc"
   """
 }