Recent Advances in Biosensor Development for Foodborne Virus Detection

Neethirajan, Suresh; Ahmed, Syed Rahin; Chand, Rohit; Buozis, John; Nagy, Éva

Nanomaterial based technology has been applied to foodborne virus detection to ensure food safety [45] . A variety of nanomaterials can be used, such as graphene and carbon nanotubes (CNTs); quantum dots (QDs); and metal nanoparticles including gold (Au), silver (Ag), and titanium based nanomaterials [46, 47] . Nanomaterials play a major role in biosensor design for foodborne virus assay, and enable faster, sensitive, specific, and cost-effective detection outside of laboratory. This review describes their advantages, principles, and limitations with regard to their multiplexing capability, sensitivity, and simplicity (Table 2 ). [70] In nanomaterials, gold nanoparticles and quantum dots are the most commonly used materials. However, new forms of nanomaterials are being developed to represent more molecular entities and to be more amenable to nanoscale fabrication [48] . Another promising material is magnetic nanoparticles, with advantages of easy manipulation and cost-effectiveness. They can be combined with a capturing agent, such as a DNA probe, a glycan molecule, or an antibody, to target DNA or protein molecules of interest. For foodborne viruses, the earlier detection is to determine viral nucleic acid; and viral protein measurement is a later detection. In particular, novel metal nanomaterials such as Au NPs and Ag NPs have been highlighted due to their plasmonic properties [24] .