FAST CLINICAL IMMUNOVIROLOGY

THE OBJECTIVES OF THIS PROJECT ARE TO DEVELOP NEW AND RAPID METHODS FOR DETECTING, ISOLATING, AND CHARACTERIZING NEW VIRUSES, KNOWN VIRIONS, VIRAL ANTIGENS, AND ANTIBODIES TO KNOWN PATHOGENIC VIRUSES. THE METHODS TO BE EXPLORED DEPEND ON UNIQUE COMBINATIONS OF CENTRIFUGAL TECHNIQUES, ANDTHE BANDING DENSITIES AND SEDIMENTATION COEFFICIENTS OF BOTHINDIVIDUAL SPECIES OF VIRUS PARTICLES AND OF FLUORESCENT AND NONFLUORESCENT LATEX PARTICLES. THE METHODS INCLUDE (IN ORDER OF INCREASED INSTRUMENTATIONAL COMPLEXITY) DENSITY-SEPARATED FLUORESCENT IMMUNOAGGREGATES, RATE-SEPARATED FLUORESCENT IMMUNOAGGREGATES, ISOPYCNOMETRIC VIRUS DETECTION, AND TWO-DIMENSIONAL CENTRIFUGAL VIRUS ISOLATION. WITH THESE METHODS IT IS PROPOSED THAT NEW VIRUSES CAN BE RAPIDLY ISOLATED AND CHARACTERIZED; TESTS CAN BE DEVELOPED THAT WILL YIELD PRECISE VIRUS TITERS, ALLOWING METHODS FOR GROWING THE VIRUS TO BE EVALUATED EVEN WHEN VERY POOR YIELDS ARE OBTAINED; AND RAPID METHODS FOR DIAGNOSIS OF VIRAL DISEASES BASED ON VIRION DETECTION, ANTIGEN DETECTION,OR ANTIBODY DETECTION CAN BE DEVELOPED. THE PRINCIPLES OF THE METHODS WILL BE STUDIED IN PHASE I. IN PHASE II, A PROTOTYPE WILL BE DEVELOPED AND INITIAL APPLICATIONS WILL BEMADE.