The Fourth International Workshop on Biosensors for Food Safety and Environmental Monitoring

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The Fourth International Workshop on Biosensors for Food Safety and Environmental Monitoring was held in Tangier, Morocco, on October 1st–3rd, 2009, in continuation of previous workshops held in Fez (2007), Agadir (2005) and Marrakech (2003). Once again, experts from around the world were able to share their knowledge on fundamental aspects and applications of biosensors. Professor Aziz Amine from the University Hassan II—Mohammedia acted as the Chairperson. The workshop was dedicated to Prof. G.G. Guilbault, a pioneer of biosensor technology, who died suddenly during Christmas time in 2008. Indeed, the first potentiometric biosensor for urea and the first glucose probe based on the detection of hydrogen peroxide were both developed by him in 1969 and 1972 respectively. Research on biosensors continues to play an important role in the development of devices for food safety and environmental monitoring, to be used both in the laboratory and in the field. Owing to the increasing presence of contaminants in food and in the environment, there is a strong need for the development of rapid analytical biosensing systems for measurements in real samples. Recent developments in this area include fundamental advances and new applications as well as addressing the challenges associated with portable and robust analytical devices for use outside the laboratory. Invited plenary lectures were given by Marco Mascini, Universita di Firenze, Italy (on “Peptide and oligonucleotide aptamers as new ligands for analytical chemistry”); Salvador Alegret, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain (on “Micro and nanoparticles in biosensing systems for food safety and environmental monitoring. An example of converging technologies”); Otto Wolfbeis, University of Regensburg, Germany (on “Advances in fluorescent optical biosensors for environmental and food safety applications”), and by by A. Roda, University of Bologna, Italy (on “Molecular bioluminescence imaging”). The scientific committee also selected 52 original submitted abstracts to be presented as oral and poster communications. The presentations covered a broad perspective, from electrochemical and optical biosensors to biosensing and luminescence imaging. The workshop attracted seventy participants from 18 countries from Africa, Europe and Asia. The Meetings also offered an excellent opportunity to bring together students and researchers from Universities with those responsible for R&D in industrial companies. This Special Issue contains selected contributions made to the workshop. These reflect the wealth of information and progress presented there. Obviously, all manuscripts were peer-reviewed by experts in the respective fields and A. Amine (*) Faculte des Sciences et Techniques, Universite Hassan II-Mohammedia, B.P. 146, Mohammedia, Morocco e-mail: a.amine@univh2m.ac.ma