title: Long period grating based biosensor for the detection of Escherichia coli bacteria.
abstract: In this paper we report a stable, label-free, bacteriophage-based detection of Escherichia coli (E. coli) using ultra sensitive long-period fiber gratings (LPFGs). Bacteriophage T4 was covalently immobilized on optical fiber surface and the E. coli binding was investigated using the highly accurate spectral interrogation mechanism. In contrast to the widely used surface plasmon resonance (SPR) based sensors, no moving part or metal deposition is required in our sensor, making the present sensor extremely accurate, very compact and cost effective. We demonstrated that our detection mechanism is capable of reliable detection of E. coli concentrations as low as 10(3)cfu/ml with an experimental accuracy greater than 99%.
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche en Photonique, Département d'informatique et d'ingénierie, Université du Québec en Outaouais, Gatineau, QC, J8Y 3G5, Canada. Electronic address: tripathi.sm1@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Saurabh Mani
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Tripathi
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche en Photonique, Département d'informatique et d'ingénierie, Université du Québec en Outaouais, Gatineau, QC, J8Y 3G5, Canada.
authors.forename: Wojtek J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Bock
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche en Photonique, Département d'informatique et d'ingénierie, Université du Québec en Outaouais, Gatineau, QC, J8Y 3G5, Canada.
authors.forename: Predrag
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mikulic
authors.affiliation: Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique - Énergie, Matériaux et Télécommunications, Varennes, QC, J3X 1S2, Canada.
authors.forename: Raja
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chinnappan
authors.affiliation: Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique - Énergie, Matériaux et Télécommunications, Varennes, QC, J3X 1S2, Canada.
authors.forename: Andy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ng
authors.affiliation: Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique - Énergie, Matériaux et Télécommunications, Varennes, QC, J3X 1S2, Canada.
authors.forename: Mona
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tolba
authors.affiliation: Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique - Énergie, Matériaux et Télécommunications, Varennes, QC, J3X 1S2, Canada. Electronic address: Zourob@emt.inrs.ca.
authors.forename: Mohammed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zourob
mesh_terms: D058491:Bacterial Load / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017122:Bacteriophage T4; D015374:Biosensing Techniques / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D005516:Food Microbiology; D006801:Humans; D057230:Limit of Detection; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D055100:Optical Fibers; D020349:Surface Plasmon Resonance; D013499:Surface Properties