Vibrational spectroscopy in protein research toward virus identification: challenges, new research, and future perspectives

Abstract Many techniques for rapid virus diagnosis are based on the detection of antibodies caused by these infectious agents. These antibodies are a response of our immune system to the contact made with the viral protein surface. In this type of analysis, the main problem is that for viruses of the same family, these proteins can be very similar, inducing the immune system to errors, resulting in incorrect antibodies being produced and, consequently, a wrong diagnosis will be generated. Vibrational spectroscopic techniques are known for their sensitivity in detecting existing differences in the molecular composition of certain samples. Since these techniques detect absorption when an electromagnetic radiation of a particular energy interacts with the chemical bond composition of a sample, they have a great potential in detecting the presence of important biomolecules, such as the surface protein(s) present in viruses. Thus techniques such as infrared spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy appear as powerful tools in the field of protein research for virology. In addition, combined with spectroscopy, chemometric techniques are usually employed in a multivariate analysis fashion to aid identification of these spectral differences. In this chapter, we will present theoretical support on the topic, by analyzing the role of vibrational spectroscopy and protein research in virus identification, as well as the most recent research that has been published in this field. We will also bring the challenges that can be found when working on this line of research, and future perspectives toward the potential of developing reliable and simple-to-use tools for virus detection.