**4. Conclusion**

The different studies presented here show how versatile is the use of Bioluminescence for microorganisms detection. We demonstrate here that it offers a high sensitivity to detect microbial contamination rapidly in a variety of filterable samples.

The association of Bioluminescence to sensitive sensors such as RMDS provides a result in colony forming units equivalent to the standard plate count but is 4 times faster than classical microbiology. This method can be used in samples from industrial water, to food and beverage samples for the detection of any type of bacteria, yeasts and molds including spores. We also showed that it can be used to detect bacterial contamination in cell culture matrices containing high concentrations of eukaryotic cells.

Interestingly, Bioluminescence was also coupled to molecular biology through the use of 16S RNA probes for specific detection of bacteria. The example presented here allowed not only the detection of *P. aeruginosa* but also the total viable count using Luciferin and luciferase followed by specific detection of this very specific bacterium.

Finally, the development of the method in a pharmaceutical environment allowed sterility testing of drug products 3 times faster than the compendial method. This recent developments in the pharmaceutical field show that the method is also able to help patients taking drugs usually associated with a very short shelf life (gene therapy products, cell therapies...) as the result is delivered before the injection of the product while the traditional systems usually deliver after the treatment.

In conclusion, the use of Bioluminescence either in its "classical" or molecular format allows for a number of developments in the field of microorganisms detection. The flexibility of the method and its ease of use coupled to the considerable savings in time compared to the traditional method make it a valuable tool for life scientists as well as for other clinical applications.
