The capture of viruses from complex sample matrices is required by the FDA for therapeutics originating from human, animal, or cell-culture origins. This removal of viruses can be done by different processes, including nanofiltration, chemical deactivation, or less often by affinity chromatography. The most commonly used affinity ligand is antibodies that are specific to the target virus. Antibodies are difficult to produce, expensive, and require a tertiary structure to capture the target species. Small peptide sequences as short as three amino acids in length have been identified from a combinatorial library for the capture of porcine parvovirus (PPV). These peptides have been used in chromatographic columns for removal of PPV from complex mixtures containing 7.5% human blood plasma. This approach is a promising alternative to virus capture using antibodies because it eliminates the risk of viral contamination that may be found in antibody preparations. Furthermore, peptides are inexpensive to produce and more stable than antibodies. This stability allows the adsorption surface to be used repeatedly for its designed use.

This current research focuses on using small peptides for the removal of viruses from complex mixtures, but in the future, different biopolymers, including RNA riboswitches and other olignionucleotide constructs could be used to create specific recognition surfaces that capture viruses or other environmental toxins. These surfaces could then be used for the removal of viruses from process streams, concentration of viral vectors for gene therapy, or molecular surface detection in a sensor. Which use the discovered biopolymers are best suited for will be determined by the ease of elution that is needed for each application.