Interaction of virus-like particles and nanoparticles with inorganic materials for biosensing: An exciting approach

[Display omitted] •Hybrid VLPs/VNPs display promising features for biosensing applications.•Optically enhanced sensing platforms using Hybrid VNPs/VLPs have been reported.•Phages are efficient recognition elements for bacterial biosensors.•Phage-based biosensors show high scalability with a potential for mass production. In recent years, the implementation of virus-like particles (VLPs) and viral nanoparticles (VNPs) into biosensing devices have been extensively studied due to their ease of surface modification into specific bio-recognizing elements by both chemical and genetic approaches. Some authors have already reported hybrid VLPs/VNPs as promising alternatives due to their biocompatibility and tunable physicochemical properties. Furthermore, incorporating inorganic compounds into VLPs/VNPs systems for improving the optical and electrochemical biosensing performance is somehow a current approach. VNPs of bacteriophages have served as nanoscale models that offer unique structural properties such as pathogen detection. In this sense, non-infectious VLPs/VNPs and inorganic materials represent an opportunity in research, drug innovation, and sensing for further comprehension and early identification of diseases.