ABSTRACT
Influenza virus relies on two glycoproteins on its enveloped surface to successfully bind to and later release from epithelial cells of the host respiratory tract—hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase. Influenza HA's are known to multivalently bind to sialic acid residues of the host cell's glycocalyx during the first step of the viral infection cycle. The motivated the pursuit of an avidin-biotin complex-based technique that can be layered onto optical spectroscopy compatible substrates, such as glass and sapphire, for greater flexibility in data acquisition techniques. Furthermore, application directly to glass and similar substrates would facilitate a variety of microfluidic integrations that befit from virus immobilization, including interrogation for virus characterization and diagnosis or high throughput drug screening. An avidin-biotin complex base with a biotin-PEG-sialic acid functionalized surface was utilized to create an Influenza virus capture coating capable of immobilizing whole virus while keeping the virion intact.
