Fluorescent Labelling of Viruses for Rapid Optical Identification of Viral Pathogens

Infectious diseases caused by viruses such as influenza, HIV, Ebola, measles, Zika and hepatitis represent a huge global public health concern, causing many thousands of deaths annually. During the last two years we have worked on developing methods for the rapid fluorescent labelling of viruses, with the aim of developing an optical biosensor for virus detection based on fluorescent ribonucleic acid binding agents. We aim to use neutron reflectometry to characterise the exact mechanism of fluorescence labelling on the membrane surface of enveloped virus particles. Our experiments to date suggest that efficient fluorescence labelling of enveloped viruses requires the presence of a divalent cations fluorescently-labelled nucleic acid and anionic lipid bilayers on the virus particle. We will model this interaction using supported lipid bilayers to gain precision molecular information.