An introduction to electrochemical DNA biosensors

Electrochemical DNA biosensors exploit the affinity of single-stranded DNA for complementary strands of DNA and are used in the detection of specific sequences of DNA with a view towards developing portable analytical devices. Great progress has been made in this field but there are still numerous challenges to overcome. This review for researchers new to the field describes the components of electrochemical DNA biosensors and the important issues in their design. Methods of transducing DNA binding events are discussed along with future directions for DNA biosensors.