The six different methods of study of viruses are as follows:
· Embryonated eggs
· Primary cell culture
· Cytopathic Effect (CPE)
· Plaque assay
· Hemagglutination
· Western blot
Embryonated eggs
This picture shows a typical avian egg with the parts labelled.
In the process of embryonating eggs, the influenza virus is studied through isolation and cultivation.
Primary cell culture
This picture shows the cells in culture. They are stained for keratin in red colour and DNA in green colour.
Primary cell cultures derive cell cultures. They typically will have a finite life span in culture. Only cells, which are grown in vitro, undergo primary cell culture.
Cytopathic Effect (CPE)
This picture shows the structure and cytopathic effect of Nelson Bay Virus.
The cytopathic effects are visible changes in the infected host. These changes come about upon having the virus to subvert its host just to replicate itself. If there is no such visible change in the infected host, this means that the cell morphology has changed. These changes vary inter-virus and inter-host.
Plaque assay
This picture shows how a plaque assay is carried out with words to describe each step.
Plaque assay uses principle of one plaque produced by one virus on the monolayer. It requires a lot of time to complete. Its requirement is such that a cell line is infected by the virus. The result of plaque assay is related to observing cell death in infected cell culture. The accuracy varies inversely to the concentration of virus. The surrounding cells are infected as well upon having one virus to infect one cell. Viruses, which infect monolayer cells or cause cell death, can be used in plaque assay. Plaques are seen in visible circular shape. The number of infected cells varies directly to the number of visible circular plaques formed.
Hemagglutination
There are two different types of hemagglutination.
The two different types of hemagglutination are as follows:
· Hemagglutination
· Hemagglutination Inhibition
This picture shows the result of hemagglutination.
In hemagglutination, there are two spike proteins used. They are known as the neuraminidase and haemagglutinin. Only the haemagglutinin binds specifically to red blood cells.
In hemagglutination inhibition, when there is presence of antibody, then the hemagglutination will only be experimented. The virus neutralisation is a process where the antibody neutralisation decreases virus infectivity. The virus neutralisation inhibits agglutination. Agglutination is where the red blood cells glue together to prevent foreign matter from penetration.
Western blot
This picture above shows an immunoblot (western blot) analysis of proteins separated by SDS-PAGE gradientgel electrophoresis.
This picture shows a western blot using radioactive detection system.
In western blot, 
electrophoresis helps to separate the HIV protein antigens. The nitrocellulose paper strips are used for blotting of these protein antigens upon separation. The strip undergoes incubation with patient antibody. The removal of the unbound antibody is by washing the strip upon incubation. The result of western blot is obtained upon binding serum from an HIV-infected person and identifying the major HIV antigenic proteins.