Title:Microbial Sensors Based on Nanostructures
Volume: 5
Issue: 1
Author(s): Iliana A. Ivanova and Ivanka Tsacheva
Affiliation:
Keywords:
Antibody, aptamer, bacterial detection, nanomedicine, nanostructures, viral detection.
Abstract: Some authors use the term “nanosensor” for biomolecules in nano molar concentrations
acting as signals for living cells. In our review we emphasize on microbial sensors for detecting
pathogens and on the “hardware” - the type of nanostructures used as a pad of bio sensing element. The main object is
different type of nano-structured material used in the sensing process - non functionalized metal nanoparticles, metal
oxides forming thin films and functionalized sensors as antibody-coated and aptamer-coated nanostructures and thin films.
The latter have shown high selectivity and sensitivity and appear to be promising for future applications in medicine and
environmental testing. Recent patents based on nanostructures for detection of clinically important pathogens are
discussed. Our investigation proved the sensitivity of thin zinc oxide films to bacterial quantity of Gracilicutes and
Firmicutes bacteria. The observed sensitivity was a single cell in a drop of water, but the change of potential to
Pseudomonas cells was almost ten times higher than to Bacillus. It could be due not only to the bacterial type of cell wall
but also to the type of dopant and the crystal structure of the ZnO thin film.
