As a response to the rapidly emerging threat of bioterrorism,
the objectives of this volume of Commercial and Pre-Commercial
Cell Detection Technologies for Defence against Bioterror -
Technology, Market and Society are to exchange information on
commercially available technologies and equipment for defense
against bioterrorism; to further the development of new
biosensor system prototypes into a commercially available
apparatus and to explore human factors in BWA biosensors. The
new commercial and pre- commercial technologies that are
currently emerging in the world are presented and explained.
Furthermore, there is a discussion about the interaction of
modern detection systems with society and a trial for
improvement of the relation between the scientific community
and commercial entities. There are four major areas
highlighted: the first is a presentation of the most advanced
biosensors and biodetection system which can be found in the
market or are quite close to commercialization. Systems as the
BIOHAWK, SASS 2000, RAPTOR, Bionas 2500, OWLS, or a portable
SPR are presented in this section. The second issue is a
presentation of the advances in the research of biodetection
devices as DNA and protein microchips, micro and nanophotonic
sensors, CMOS microsensor chips, electrochemical arrays,
physical platforms, electro optical detection, mass detection,
etc. Then, there is a description of the latest developments in
the employment of bioreceptor layers for the selective
detection of BWA, as protein signatures, molecular imprinted
polymers, membrane engineering (MIME), cell signatures,
monoclonal antibodies, synthetic antibodies and lytic phages,
among others. The last part is the discussion of the human
factor: societal issues related to sensor development and
employment for BWA detection.