Bioluminescent Microbial Biosensors ─ Design, Construction, and Implementation

This book describes the design and the use of bioluminescent biosensors. It introduces beginners and experienced researchers starting in the microbiological biosensor domain to the practical aspects of building a luminescent microbial biosensor. It is also a source of information about other applications that use microbial cells. Each chapter focuses as far as possible on the technological conception of the presented biosensor with a clear demonstration of the issues in the design and how to reach the proof of concept. The book is divided into three practical sections facilitating the reader to easily access the information, starting from the bioreporter handling (free, immobilized, or spore) to the engineering of the measurement platform (fiber optic, CCD, lensless platform, free-cell bioreactor, CD platform).

Gerald Thouand is full professor in microbiology at the University of Nantes, deputy for research innovation at the French Ministry of Research (DRRT Pays de La Loire), and auditor at the Institute of Higher Studies for Science and Technology, Paris. He received his PhD in microbiology from the University of Nancy, France, in 1993. His research interests include environmental monitoring of biodegradation and biotechnology using microbial biosystems. He is mainly involved in the development of biosensors for the detection of chemical pollutants and pathogenic bacteria. Prof. Thouand is a member of the French Society of Microbiology, France; the Society for Applied Microbiology, UK; and the scientific committee of the International Society of Bioluminescence and Chemiluminescence. He is associate editor for Frontiers in Microbiology and editor forEnvironmental Science and Pollution Research. His scientific contribution includes 44 international peer-reviewed articles, 4 patents, 12 book chapters, and 59 international conferences.

Robert S. Marks earned his PhD from the Weizmann Institute of Science and did his postdoctoral research at the University of Cambridge. He is full professor at the Department of Biotechnology Engineering, the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, and is affiliated to the National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev and the Ilse Katz Centre for Nanotechnology. He is currently a program coordinator for the NRF CREATE program "Nanomaterials for Water and Energy Management" through MSE at the Nanyang Technological University. Prof. Marks has published in viral immunosensors and has extensive experience in biosensors. He has developed new sensor configurations, such as establishing diagnostics based on luminescence emitted by primed neutrophils, and is the editor-in-chief of the 2007 two-volume Wiley Handbook in Biosensors and Biochips as well as author of more than 100 papers and numerous chapters.