Bioterrorism and biological warfare employ living agents or toxins that can be disseminated or delivered by infected individuals, insects, aerosols, and by the contamination of water and food supplies. Biological warfare agents (BWA) such as bacteria, viruses, toxins and genetically engineered species are usually characterized as invisible, odor- and taste-free. Most biological agents can be thousands of times more lethal per unit than the most lethal chemical warfare agents. Unlike chemical agents, biological agents attack people stealthily with no observable reaction until after an incubation period (1–14 days). Current disease surveillance and response systems rely on post-symptomatic reporting. However, many infectious agents such as smallpox have a long latency to clinical symptoms, thereby eluding early detection and resulting in widespread, uncontrolled contagion. Consequently, the threat of deliberate dissemination of biological agents is the most complicated and problematic of the weapons of mass destruction facing mankind today.

This volume contains papers presented at the NATO Advanced Research Workshop “Commercial and Pre-commercial Cell Detection Technologies for Defense against Bioterror – Technology, Market and Society”, held in Brno, Czech Republic in September 2006. As a response to the rapidly emerging threat of bioterrorism, the objectives of the workshop were: (i) to exchange information on commercially available technologies and equipment for defense against bioterrorism; (ii) to further the development of new biosensor system prototypes into a commercially available apparatus; and to explore human factors in BWA biosensors. During the Workshop the new commercial and pre-commercial technologies that are currently emerging in the world were presented and explained. On the other hand, we discussed the interaction of modern detection systems with society and we tried to improve the relation between the scientific community and commercial entities. As a summary, the major areas of activity during the Workshop were the following:

1) 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^TM, SASS 2000, RAPTOR, Bionas^® 2500, OWLS, or a portable SPR were presented.

2) 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.

3) 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, lytic phages, among others.

4) A deep discussion of the human factor: societal issues related to sensor development and employment for BWA detection.

The editors: Laura M. Lechuga, Fred P. Milanovich, Petr Skládal, Oleg Ignatov and Thomas R. Austin.