The Importance of Hybrid-capture Technology to Recognize and Characterize Viral Threats

As viral threats continue to emerge, viral detection assays are important not only for recognizing if a virus is present, but also for surveillance and variant characterization. Accurate detection and monitoring are especially important as the SARS-CoV-2 virus mutates, requiring robust tools capable of new variants. This has been made especially clear with the emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 variants that cannot be detected by conventional PCR tests. In this presentation we will review the different types of virus detection assays. We will focus on hybrid capture followed by Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) for viral detection. The technology behind hybrid capture will be discussed. We will then demonstrate how hybrid capture is capable of distinguishing viruses causing similar respiratory illness symptoms. We will also demonstrate how hybrid capture can be used for detecting and characterizing SARS-CoV-2.

Learning Objectives:

1. The differences in diagnostic viral detection assays

2. The basics of hybrid capture and how it can be used for viral recognition and characterization.