Essentials of Biosensors

The primary objective of medical diagnosis is to precisely detect the disease onset in a timely manner for effective treatments. The rising demand in medical diagnosis, given the rapidly aging populations, increasing population mobility and complex healthcare needs, has called for support of effective diagnostic approaches, where biosensors have provided well-suited solutions. To this end, biosensors are typically examined by the yardstick of specificity, sensitivity, dynamic range, and reliability or robustness. The advancements in biomarker discoveries and signal transduction schemes have led to biosensors of improved performances; however, challenges remain particularly for translating the biosensors into clinical uses. This chapter is therefore aimed to prepare the audience with essentials of biosensors and roadblocks associated with clinical translations. Comprehension of these prerequisites is expected to accelerate the development of biosensors from lab bench to bed.

Keywords: Molecular biosensing, Medical diagnosis, Point-of-care, Signal transduction.