What tools does a virologist use?

This is not a complete list, but these are several tools that a virology lab should have access to:

• An electron microscope (for looking at very small things)
• A thermocycler (for amplifying DNA using PCR)
• An ELISA plate reader (another test for detecting viruses)
• A high speed centrifuge (used for purifying viruses)

For a virologist looking at human and animal viruses, they will need test human cells or test animal cells to infect (cell cultures not the animals themselves). For a plant virologist, test plants to infect will be needed.