Electrochemical biosensors for medical and food applications

Sensing and quantification of DNA and proteins are becoming increasingly important in biochemistry, medicine and biotechnology. Traditional analytical techniques are lagging behind the demand for more information in less time, at a lower cost. An important step forward in this pursuit is to identify an analyte using its electrochemical behavior and to convert its presence and concentration into perceivable and distinct electrical signals. This review covers the strategies for electrochemical sensing of biomolecules, mainly, DNA and proteins by label-based and label-free approaches using disposable electrochemical printed chips and carbon nanotube based field effect transistors. Issues, such as ease of preparation, robustness, sensitivity, and realization of mass production of the detection strategies are also considered. A good coverage of the published literature, mostly, a wide treatment of original research articles reporting novel principles has been made. Finally, this review may help the researchers in developing an understanding of miniaturized electrochemical biosensors and their possible applications in medical and food science, with directions for future research.