Advances in the manufacturing, types, and applications of biosensors

In recent years, there have been significant technological advancements in the manufacturing, types, and applications of biosensors. Applications include clinical and non-clinical diagnostics for home, bio-defense, bio-remediation, environment, agriculture, and the food industry. Biosensors have progressed beyond the detection of biological threats such as anthrax and are finding use in a number of non-biological applications. Emerging biosensor technologies such as lab-on-a-chip have revolutionized the integration approaches for a very flexible, innovative, and user-friendly platform. An overview of the fundamentals, types, applications, and manufacturers, as well as the market trends of biosensors is presented here. Two case studies are discussed: one focused on a characterization technique-patch clamping and dielectric spectroscopy as a biological sensor-and the other about lithium phthalocyanine, a material that is being developed for in-vivo oxymetry.