A research team representing diverse engineering and medical disciplines at the Washington University in St. Louis, has developed a capacitive biosensor to detect airborne H5N1 avian influenza virus.

Virus entrained in air was collected in a wet cyclone with an aliquot of liquid containing virus applied to the biosensor platform.  Using serial dilutions, it was possible to assess the in vitro sensitivity and specificity of the detection system suggesting that the technology could be applied as a cost-effective method of rapidly detecting the presence of airborne H5N1.

Kumar, J., et al, Capacitive Biosensor for Rapid Detection of Avian (H5N1) Influenza and E. Coli in Aerosols. ACS Sensors doi.org/10.102/ACS Sensors.4c 03087 2025