A new approach to identifying pathogens, with particular regard to viruses, based on capillary electrophoresis and other analytical techniques

Fast determination, identification and characterization of pathogens is a significant challenge in many fields, from industry to medicine. Standard approaches (e.g., culture media and biochemical tests) are known to be very time-consuming and labor-intensive. Conversely, screening techniques demand a quick and low-cost grouping of microbial isolates, and current analysis call for broad reports of pathogens, involving the application of molecular, microscopy, and electromigration techniques, DNA fingerprinting and also MALDI-TOF methods. The present COVID-19 pandemic is a crisis that affects rich and poor countries alike. Detection of SARS-CoV-2 in patient samples is a critical tool for monitoring disease spread, guiding therapeutic decisions and devising social distancing protocols. The goal of this review is to present an innovative methodology based on preparative separation of pathogens by electromigration techniques in combination with simultaneous analysis of the proteome, lipidome, and genome using laser desorption/ionization analysis.