Spectradyne's particle analysis blog

When every particle countsTM

Extracellular vesicles exosomes nanoparticles gene therapy are all done here

Welcome to Spectradyne's blog!


May 22, 2020 - Fascinating Virus Measurements with Spectradyne's nCS1TM

Virologists use Spectradyne's nCS1TM particle analyzers to gain a deeper understanding of their virus particles. The rich information delivered by the nCS1TM enables researchers to characterize and accurately quantify their virus particles, leading to significant time savings and reduced process variability.

The nCS1's ability to detect a wide variety of virus types, even in complex biological media, provides for many interesting and unique measurement results. Here we showcase a few notable virus measurement examples.

In the first example, shown to the right in Fig. 1, a myxoma virus sample was tested in its cell culture medium with little sample preparation. Myxoma viruses are brick-shaped virions of about 200 nm to 300 nm in diameter. The nCS1TM was able to detect the virus population at 260 nm above the high concentration culture media background.

The second example, shown in Fig. 2, is a comparison between a wild-type flu B virus (WT) and a mutant form. Each sample was spiked with 208 nm polystyrene beads as a positive control. The wild-type sample shows the virus particles having a mean diameter of 100 nm. The mutant virus exhibits no evidence of a peak in the distribution over the same size range, suggesting the mutation affects capsid formation. This type of data can therefore offer crucial information for scientists in studying the effects of mutations on the virus.

The third interesting example is a measurement of maraba virus, shown in Fig. 3. The maraba virus particle is reported by TEM to have a cylindrical diameter of ∼65 nm and a length of ∼180 nm.

The nCS1's non-optical electrical sensing technology directly measures particle volume — you can read more here. Optical techniques must assume a spherical shape, then infer the particle diameter from some other physical property being measured. By measuring the particle volume directly, as is done by Spectradyne's nCS1TM, the particle's equivalent spherical diameter (ESD) can be calculated.

The dimensions of the maraba virus particle give a cylindrical volume and an ESD of a sphere of same volume measuring approximately 100 nm. As seen in the graph, this is exactly what the nCS1TM measures!

In earlier posts we've described how the nCS1TM provides a fast and easy method for measuring viral titer, and how it can be used to improve viral purification processes. As the above examples further demonstrate, Spectradyne's technology also delivers unique insight into the physical characteristics of the virus, providing much richer information that cannot be obtained with other methods.

Spectradyne's technology is affordable, easy to use, and easy to adopt. Want to learn more about how it saves virologists' time? Visit our virus applications page here.

Back to table of contents

Please continue to follow our blog as we share insights, technical details, and generally geek-out with you about nanoparticle science!

Email us for more information, or to discuss your particular application directly.


virus fig 1

Figure 1. Measurements of a myxoma virus sample, tested in its cell culture medium with little sample preparation.

virus fig 2

Figure 2. Comparison between a wild-type flu B virus (WT) and a mutant form. Each sample was spiked with 208 nm polystyrene beads as a positive control.

virus fig 3

Figure 3. Measurement of a maraba virus. The maraba virus particle is reported by TEM to have a cylindrical diameter of ∼65 nm and a length of ∼180 nm.

Connect with Us

Learn More