EXPLORING DEEP EUTECTIC SOLVENTS IN CONCENTRATING NON-ENVELOPED VIRUS FOR IMPROVING RAPID VIRUS DETECTION

Norovirus is noted to be a leading cause of food-borne illness globally, yet its detection in complex food matrices remains challenging due to many limitations of conventional and current rapid diagnostic methods. To address these challenges, this study evaluates the use of deep eutectic solvents (DESs) as a novel technology for virus capture and recovery. DES formulations, including newly developed DESs, were evaluated alongside magnetic ionic liquids (MILs) for their efficiency of capture and recovery of MS2 from an aqueous solution. Bacteriophage MS2 was used as a surrogate for human norovirus, and experiments included aqueous solutions, back elution buffers and lettuce rinsate matrices. Initial protocols included ssRNA extraction methods like the Trizol method were compared to rapid extraction procedures to assess if there would be more viral recovery efficiency and a decrease time of extraction. Vortex time assessments were performed to optimize both capture and recovery using DES formulations. Plaque assays and RT-qPCR quantification provided complementary measures of viral viability of the DESs. The results in this thesis show that DES formulations have the potential to achieve high capture and recovery efficiency. They also show that DES could potentially serve as low-cost, portable, and novel technology for point-of-service virus detection, supporting an application food safety monitoring.