Colloidal properties of viruses largely define the stability, transport, and host interactions of viruses. Despite attempts to unravel the correlation between colloidal virus properties and their interactions outside and inside their host, an in-depth understanding is still missing. This knowledge gap is, to a great extent, caused by challenges associated with the capacity to probe these properties experimentally; thus, great efforts are being invested in developing new approaches or transforming existing ones to characterize the physical-chemical, i.e., colloidal, properties of viruses. Understanding the correlation between these properties and virus interactions is not only important from a scientific point of view but will also hopefully inspire the design of novel viral vectors and virus-like particles for biomedical applications. In this review, we cover the recent experimental advances in characterizing the colloidal properties of viruses with particular attention to virus hydrophobicity, genetic load, nanomechanical properties, and surface interaction forces with host cells.

病毒的胶体特性在很大程度上决定了病毒的稳定性、运输和宿主相互作用。尽管试图阐明胶体病毒特性与其宿主内外相互作用之间的相关性，但仍缺乏深入的了解。这种知识差距在很大程度上是由与通过实验探索这些特性的能力相关的挑战造成的；因此，正在投入大量精力开发新方法或改造现有方法，以表征病毒的物理化学特性，即胶体特性。了解这些特性与病毒相互作用之间的相关性不仅从科学的角度来看很重要，而且有望激发用于生物医学应用的新型病毒载体和病毒样颗粒的设计。