Review Article
Mitra Salami, Abadi MHS, Sa
Abstract
Enteric and diarrheal diseases are major causes of childhood illness and death in countries with developing economies. Each year, more than half a million kids under the age of five die from these diseases. Escherichia coli, E. coli, a water/foodborne pathogen, is one of the major sources of food poisoning which results in severe diarrhea at extremely low concentrations and therefore is very challenging to be detected. Using available technologies, which are mostly based on amplification of low concentration samples, to detect the presence of the bacterium takes several hours to days; thus, a fast and an accurate detection alternative is on demand over lab-based technologies. In this sense, emerging nanoscale bio-transistors enable quantitative detection mechanism based on electrochemical binding of circulating analytes to immobilize antibodies on the biodevice's active surface. The state of the art of the Bio Field Effect Transistors (BioFETs) for fast track and accurate detection of E. coli is the concern of this review paper which describes and compares the recent advancements in the field. Furthermore, implications for novel approaches to different configurations based on the sensing principles and corresponding parameters are elaborated and discussed in detail.