The last 50 years have witnessed enormous advances in virtually all areas of medicine and life sciences. These advances are particularly evident in molecular biology, genetics, biotechnology, and digital imaging. Some of these advances have revolutionalised laboratory-based methods of studying viruses. These methods include the production of monoclonal antibodies, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), high throughput genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics. These emerging laboratory advances have had a major impact not only on virology research but also on diagnostic virology. Viruses can now be detected in record time with much greater sensitivity and specificity. Moreover, these innovative approaches are begin-ning to provide a comprehensive global insight into infectious agents and their surrounding environment. Thousands of genes or cellular components can now be analysed simultaneously from a single sample and topographically mapped to tissue morphology. However, many of these technologies are expensive, highly sophisti-cated, and require considerable expertise to establish and run. As such, they are out of reach for routine hands-on practical training of university students at the begin-ning of their scientific research training.