Chapter 6: Phage-based Pathogen Biosensors

The phage engineering, which grounds on the natural mechanisms of selection, allows directed nanofabrication of bioselective materials, with possible applications to biosensors, nanoelectronics, biosorbents, and other areas of medicine, technology, and environmental monitoring. In particular, using phage display technology allows the generation of libraries possessing diverse nanostructures accommodated on the phage's surface – a huge resource of diagnostic and detection probes. Selected phage-derived probes bind biological agents and generate detectable signals as a part of analytical platforms. They may be suitable as robust and inexpensive molecular recognition interfaces for field-use detectors and real time monitoring devices for biological and chemical threat agents. The data discussed in this chapter shows how the use of phage-based interfaces may greatly improve the sensitivity, robustness and longevity of commercial biosensors.