Use of Spectroscopy and Nanomaterials to Detect Viruses

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a clear example of how a virus can have a global impact in the society and has demonstrated the current limitations of detection and diagnostic capabilities globally. Another virus which has remains a serious threat to world health is the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Even though there has been a significant progress in the HIV biosensing over the past years, there is still a great need for the development of point-of-care (POC) biosensors that are affordable, robust, portable, easy to use and sensitive enough to provide accurate results to enable clinical decision making. 

In this webinar Dr Sello Manolo presents a proof of concept for how HIV-1 pseudoviruses captured on the glass substrates by antibodies can be detected. Characterization was performed using UV–vis spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) while the surface morphology was characterized by fluorescence microscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM) and Raman spectroscopy techniques. Dr. Manolo provides an overview of the preliminary results obtained from these studies and discusses the potential of this approach for HIV biosensing applications.

This presentation was part of the Andor Virology Virtual Conference March 2021.