Rapid Total Particle Quantification for Viral Families With High Potential for Pathogenic Emergence

Rapid viral quantification during the emergence of a novel pathogenic virus is critical to quickly developing a vaccine. Current techniques for determining the quantity of virus particles in a sample, such as immunoassays, the plaque assay, TCID50, or measures of genomic content such as qPCR require a certain prior knowledge of the virus so that the correct cell lines can be utilized and the correct reagents manufactured. Here we demonstrate the capabilities of a novel technology for generalized and rapid virus particle quantification: the Virus Counter® 3100 (VC 3100) instrument, coupled with the Virotag® DY ENV reagent designed to stain and allow detection of viral protein and nucleic acid, to directly quantify the total particle count of enveloped viral samples. This platform operates without the need for species- or strain-specific reagents.