Speaker
Description
Nowadays, due to the recent Covid-19 pandemic, rapid detection and identification of pathogenic microorganisms causing diseases become the urgent problem for scientists and clinicians. We consider some optical methods, and their application to study absorption and scattering properties of viral particles in purpose of virus identification.
Currently, polymerization chain reaction (PCR) method is used for detection of various types of viruses. Despite its widespread successful use, as practice shows, PCR method has disadvantages. This work presents the possibility of detecting viral bioparticles and studying their physical and biological properties using various spectroscopic methods such as Raman, UV and IR spectroscopy. Knowledge of spectral signatures of particles is the most important in sensing and identification systems. Another tool to estimate the spectra of viral particles is based on simulation method. We discus the possibility to determine the spectral properties of viral particles using mathematical models, solving electrodynamics boundary problems. This approach considers the virus as a particle of different geometrical and physical parameters: Inner and outer diameters, dielectric permittivity of the coat (protein capsid) and core (DNA/RNA), shape, triangulation number, polarizability, etc. Research revealed that absorption and scattering spectra of viral particles mainly depend on the characteristics of the viral particle itself, surrounded medium, viral concentration in that. Modeled spectra will be presented for target virus MS2, which is used as a simulant for viruses, e.g. smallpox or Ebola. MS2 virus is an icosahedral, positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus. Spherical geometry of viral particle makes possible to apply May's theory and method elaborated by our team. Simulation method is used to determine the wavelength dependence of the electromagnetic field scattered on the viral particle emerged in different medium.
Work is supported by Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of Georgia(SRNSFG)[FR-23-4069]
