Emerging technologies for the detection of viral infections

Viruses represent one of the major environmental agents that cause human illness and disease. Viral detection and the study of their clinical impact have been hampered by technical aspects including tests that require substantial time and sophisticated laboratories for analysis, the small scope of target viruses interrogated, and/or the relatively low quality binary information produced. Here, we describe several emerging technologies that provide rapid and/or high-quality viral detection information. Two technologies, CRISPR-based diagnostics and a portable DNA sequencing instrument, are uniquely suited to increase the number of viral agents analyzed, even potentially in sites with limited facilities. We also discuss VirScan, a phage-based method for generating comprehensive viral profiles of previous exposure/infection and luciferase immunoprecipitation systems, a fluid-phase immunoassay that yields highly quantitative viral antibody analyses. Future applications of these approaches will accelerate on-site clinical diagnosis of viral infections and further unravel the role viruses play in complex diseases.