title: Bacteriophages: biosensing tools for multi-drug resistant pathogens.
abstract: Pathogen detection is of utmost importance in many sectors, such as in the food industry, environmental quality control, clinical diagnostics, bio-defence and counter-terrorism. Failure to appropriately, and specifically, detect pathogenic bacteria can lead to serious consequences, and may ultimately be lethal. Public safety, new legislation, recent outbreaks in food contamination, and the ever-increasing prevalence of multidrug-resistant infections have fostered a worldwide research effort targeting novel biosensing strategies. This review concerns phage-based analytical and biosensing methods targeted towards theranostic applications. We discuss and review phage-based assays, notably phage amplification, reporter phage, phage lysis, and bioluminescence assays for the detection of bacterial species, as well as phage-based biosensors, including optical (comprising SPR sensors and fiber optic assays), electrochemical (comprising amperometric, potentiometric, and impedimetric sensors), acoustic wave and magnetoelastic sensors.
authors.affiliation: Regroupement Québécois de Matériaux de Pointe, Department of Engineering Physics, École Polytechnique de Montréal, Case Postale 6079, succursale Centre-ville, Montréal, Québec H3C 3A7, Canada. nancy.tawil@mail.mcgill.ca.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tawil
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sacher
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mandeville
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Meunier
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D001435:Bacteriophages / Q000378:metabolism*; D015374:Biosensing Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D024901:Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans