STEM VQ Method, Using Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (STEM) for Accurate Virus Quantification

Accurate virus quantification is sought, but a perfect method still eludes the scientific community. Electron Microscopy EM quantification is a valuable technique because it provides morphology data and counts all viral particles, including partial or noninfectious particles however, EM methods have been criticized as inaccurate, non-reproducible, and having detection limits too high to be useful. To address these issues, we developed a consistent, reproducible virus quantification method called Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy Virus Quantification STEM-VQ which simplifies sample preparation and utilizes large throughput STEM imaging and commercially available software to count particles. In this paper, we present data evaluating alphavirus viral stock preparations that supports this methods reproducibility and accuracy including a comparison of this quantification method to viral plaque assay and the ViroCyt Virus Counter.