Final Nesting Place
These purple blobs are bird flu virus particles that can spell disaster for multiple bird species, including domesticated birds, such as chickens. The gray netting we see here is a new technology that captures virus particles so they can be identified, isolated, and studied in the hopes of developing new treatments.
DownloadFinal Nesting Place
These purple blobs are bird flu virus particles that can spell disaster for multiple bird species, including domesticated birds, such as chickens. The gray netting we see here is a new technology that captures virus particles so they can be identified, isolated, and studied in the hopes of developing new treatments.
What am I looking at?
Here we see individual H5N2 flu virus particles (bird flu) in purple (1) caught in a mesh of carbon nanotubes in gray (2).
Biology in the Background
The H5N2 flu virus, commonly known as bird flu, can infect multiple species of birds and can even transfer to humans in rare cases. The poultry industry is particularly affected by this virus because infections can spread quickly through birds on the farm. The carbon nanotube technology we see in this image helps researchers better study viruses like this one, potentially leading to new vaccines or treatments in the future.
The mesh shown in the image is a device called a carbon-nanotube size-tunable-enrichment-microdevice (CNT-STEM). It is made of strong and flexible nanotubes that are arranged on a silicon chip. The CNT-STEM device allows researchers to capture virus particles based on their size and at very low concentrations. In fact, this device was able to capture virus particles at concentrations 100 times lower than other virus capture methods. This allows researchers to more easily isolate and study known viruses and even discover new ones.
Technique
This image was created using scanning electron microscopy.
Penn State University and NIH