Crossflow membrane filtration is emerging as a method of sample preconcentration for the detection of waterborne pathogens because of its simplicity and its rapidity. However recovery for certain viruses remains low. The objective of this study was to design sacrificial membrane coatings using the polyelectrolyte multilayer (PEM) approach and to assess their efficiency in virus recovery.  Our results show that coating a membrane with a PEM film, a 1-hour process, results in removal and post-elution recovery values that are at least as high as those obtained with traditional membranes, and significantly better pre-elution recovery for all types of water tested. The high pre-elution recovery values observed for PEM coated membrane show potential for the development of a membrane surface that would eliminate the need for an elution step, thus reducing both the amount of time required for pathogen concentration by filtration and the volume of the final sample.

Polyelectrolyte multilayer films as sacrificial membrane coatings: A novel concept for virus recovery for detection

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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