Biosensors for the Detection of Waterborne Pathogens - Waterborne Pathogens: Detection Methods and Applications - page 181

(a)

Biosensor technology ranks fourth in the area of pathogen detection

Transduction methods
used in biosensors

PCR
Colony count
ELISA
Biosensors
Electrophoresis

820

35%

Optical

750

280

32% Electrochemical

170
140

16%
16%

Piezoelectric
Other

Other 450

(b)

Biosensors is the fastest growing technology for pathogen detection

120

Forecast

PCR

100

80

Culture methods
Biosensors

60

40

20

ELISA
Gel electrophoresis

0
1985 1990 1995 2005 2010

2000

Figure 7.2 (a) Approximate number of articles using different techniques to detect
and/or identify pathogenic bacteria. Articles using more than one technique have been
excluded in order to avoid overlap between categories. (b) Time series of the number
of works published on detection of pathogen bacteria over the past 20 years. The fact
that certain articles used more than one technique has been accounted for to make this
graph. Source: ISI Web of Science. ca. 2500 articles found on pathogen detection over the
last 20 years ; Figure 1 from Ref. 2 . Reproduced with permission. (For color version of this
igure, the reader is referred to the online version of this topic.)

continuous (monitoring) mode. The next sections of the chapter will focus
on reviewing the types of biosensors applied to the different types of water-
borne pathogens. The final section of the chapter will discuss the advantages
and disadvantages of using biosensors for waterborne pathogens.
Biosensor research and development is an enormous field, as evidenced
by the large and growing number of related research publications. Many