The invention is based on the discovery that certain membranes, which
include side chains or molecular "brushes" having, for example, tertiary
amino functional groups, can be used as highly effective filters to
capture viruses/virus particles from liquids without removal of proteins.
New methods based on this discovery include removing viruses from liquids
such as blood or plasma, removing viruses from pharmaceuticals,
concentrating and/or purifying viruses, e.g., for use in gene therapy,
and producing recombinant viruses in new bioreactors. The invention also
includes new methods of therapy or adjunct therapy for viral infections,
in which a patient's blood or plasma is filtered through the membranes to
remove viruses to reduce the viral load. The invention also includes new
bioreactors and viral filters containing the membranes.