Current Trends on Surface Acoustic Wave Biosensors

The development of rapid biosensing platforms is an integral part for the detection of many diseases, as well as important clinical biomarkers. So far, many new biosensing technologies have been described in literature but many of these novel platforms remain noncommercializable due to challenges in fabrication process, operational conditions as well as other cost concerns. Hence, there is a need to develop efficient and cost-effective biosensing platforms and of the types available from literature, surface acoustic wave (SAW) biosensors have certain standout attributes. The simple manufacturing requirements of SAW-based biosensor and its wide operating frequency range have produced promising outcome for bio-detection and this has rendered this technological platform as a serious contender for point-of-care biosensor design. So far, SAW devices are reported for the detection of various bioactive targets of clinical importance and several designs are already commercialized. In this review, the latest development of SAW technologies in recent years for the detection of a broad range of biomolecules is presented and some of the challenges as well as potential future developments of SAW biosensors are highlighted.

Automated summary

The development of rapid biosensing platforms is crucial for disease detection and clinical biomarker analysis. Among the various biosensing technologies, surface acoustic wave (SAW) biosensors stand out due to their simple manufacturing requirements and wide operating frequency range. SAW devices have been successfully utilized for detecting important bioactive targets and some designs are already commercially available.