A novel high sensitive surface plasmon resonance Legionella pneumophila sensing platform

In the present work a novel high sensitive strategy for the detection of Legionella pneumophila bacterium exploiting grating-based surface plasmon resonance is presented. L. pneumophila is usually detected by microbiological bacterial culture that often suffer from the need of dedicated microbiology laboratories, highly specialised personnel, and long analysis times. Indeed novel approaches for the detection of L. pneumophila bacterium have been currently developed. In this context GC-SPR under azimuthal control demonstrated its ability in detecting specifically down to 10 CFU (colony forming unit) of L. pneumophila, a concentration beyond the Italian legal limit for high risk hospital environment, resulting a valid technology with a detection sensitivity up to 1000 folds higher than fluorescence assays here adopted as validation technology. These results represent a promising starting point for the development of a scalable sensing prototype for the direct detection of Legionella in water and air samples in working environments that could be used also by non-specialised personnel.