PrefaceList of figuresList of tablesList of abbreviationsList Of symbols1 Introduction 1.1 Introduction to pathogenic bacteria and food-bome illness 1.1.1 Foodbome pathogenic bacteria 1.1.2 Infectious dose and detection of bacteria 1.2 Conventional bacterial detection methods 1.2.1 Plate counting methods 1.2.2 Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) 1.2.3 Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) 1.3 Biosensors 1.3.1 Optical biosensors 1.3.2 Electrochemical biosensors 1.3.3 Acoustic wave (AW) biosensors 1.3.4 Micro-cantilever (MC) based biosensors 1.3.5 Magnetostrictive micro-cantilever (MSMC)-basedbiosensors 1.4 Magnetostrictive particle (MSP) based biosensors 1.4.1 Resonance behavior of MSP 1.4.2 Resonance behavior of MSP in visc6us media 1.4.3 Magnetostrictive effect and materials 1.4.4 Current status ofbiosensors based on MSPs 1.5 Sensing element for biosensors--antibodies vs. phages 1.6 Research objectives References2