Biosensors
Introduction
AS THE POTENTIAL threat of bioterrorism
increases, there is great need for a tool
that can quickly, reliably, and accurately
detect contaminating bioagents in the
atmosphere.
Biosensors can essentially serve as low-
cost and highly efficient devices for this
purpose in addition to being used in other
day-to-day applications.
The history of biosensors started in
1962 with the development of enzyme
electrodes by scientist Leland C. Clark.
Research communities develop more
sophisticated, reliable, and mature
biosensing devices
Various definitions and terminologies are
used depending on the field of application.
Biosensors are known as immunosensors,
optrodes, chemical canaries, resonant,
mirrors, glucometers, biochips and
biocomputers.
• A device that utilises biological
components e.g. enzymes to indicate the
amount of a biomaterial
biosensor - the device is a combination of
two parts:
• A bioelement
• A sensor element
Basic concepts
The bio and the sensor elements can be coupled
together in one of the four possible ways
In the membrane entrapment scheme,
a semipermeable membrane separates
the analyte and the bioelement; the
sensor is attached to the bioelement.
The physical adsorption scheme is
dependent on a combination of van der
Waals forces, hydrophobic forces, hydrogen
bonds, and ionic forces to attach the
biomaterial to the surface of the sensor.
The porous entrapment scheme is
based on forming a porous
encapsulation matrix around the
biological material that helps in binding
it to the sensor.
In the covalent bonding, the sensor
surface is treated as a reactive group to
which the biological materials can bind.
The typically used bioelement
enzyme is a large protein molecule that
acts as a catalyst in chemical reactions
but remains unchanged at the end of
the reaction.
Specificity of enzymes is the basis of
biosensors
Father of the Biosensor
Professor Leland C
Clark Jnr 1918–2005
History of Biosensors
1916 First report on immobilization of proteins : adsorption of
invertase on activated charcoal
1922 First glass pH electrode
1956 Clark published his definitive paper on the oxygen
electrode.
1962 First description of a biosensor: an amperometric
enzyme electrodre for glucose (Clark)
1969 Guilbault and Montalvo – First potentiometric
biosensor:urease immobilized on an ammonia
electrode to detect urea
1970 Bergveld – ion selective Field Effect Transistor (ISFET)
1975 Lubbers and Opitz described a fibre-optic sensor with
immobilised indicator to measure carbon dioxide or oxygen.
History of Biosensors
1975 First commercial biosensor ( Yellow springs
Instruments glucose biosensor)
1975 First microbe based biosensor, First immunosensor
1976 First bedside artificial pancreas (Miles)
1980 First fibre optic pH sensor for in vivo blood gases
(Peterson)
1982 First fibre optic-based biosensor for glucose
1983 First surface plasmon resonance (SPR)
immunosensor
1984 First mediated amperometric biosensor:
ferrocene used with glucose oxidase for glucose
detection
History of Biosensors
1987 Blood-glucose biosensor launched by
MediSense ExacTech
1990 SPR based biosensor by Pharmacia BIACore
1992 Hand held blood biosensor by i-STAT
1996 Launching of Glucocard
1998 Blood glucose biosensor launch by LifeScan
FastTake
1998 Roche Diagnostics by Merger of Roche and
Boehringer mannheim
Current Quantom dots, nanoparicles, nanowire,
nanotube, etc
Basic Characteristics of a Biosensor
1. LINEARITY Linearity of the sensor should be high
forthe detection of high substrate
concentration.
2. SENSITIVITY Value of the electrode response per
substrate concentration.
3. SELECTIVITY Chemicals Interference must be
minimised for obtaining the correct
result.
[Link] TIME Time necessary for having 95%
of the response.
Example of biosensors
Pregnancy test
Detects the hCG in urine.
Glucose monitoring device (for diabetes patients)
Monitors the glucose level in the blood.
ClearBlue Pregnancy Biosensor
Types of Biosensors
1. Calorimetric Biosensor
2. Potentiometric Biosensor
3. Amperometric Biosensor
4. Optical Biosensor
5. Piezo-electric Biosensor
Calorimetric Biosensors
If the enzyme catalyzed reaction is exothermic,
two thermistors may be used to
measure the difference in resistance
between reactant and product and, hence,
the analyte concentration.
Potentiometric Biosensor
n For voltage: Change in distribution of charge
is detected using ion-selective electrodes,
such as pH-meters.
Piezo-Electric Biosensors
Piezo-electric devices use gold to detect the specific
angle at which electron waves are emitted when the
substance is exposed to laser light or crystals, such
as quartz, which vibrate under the influence of an
electric field.
The change in frequency is
proportional to the mass of absorbed
material.
Electrochemical
Biosensors
• For applied current: Movement of e- in redox
reactions detected when a potential is applied
between two electrodes.
Electrochemical DNA
Biosensor
§ Steps involved in electrochemical DNA
hybridization biosensors:
§ Formation of the DNA recognition layer
§ Actual hybridization event
§ Transformation of the hybridization event
into an electrical signal
Optical Biosensors
•Colorimetric for color
Measure change in light adsorption
•Photometric for light intensity
Photon output for a luminescent or
fluorescent process can be detected with
photomultiplier tubes or photodiode
systems.
DNA biosensor
Motivated by the application to clinical diagnosis
and genome mutation detection
DNA Biosensors Types
Electrodes
Chips
Crystals
Molecular Beacon Based Optical
Fiber DNA Biosensors
‘Ligate and light’. Schematics diagram of real-time monitoring of the
nucleic acid ligation process which restores the quenched
fluorescence of the MB..
DNA Microarray
The fluorescence intensities for each spot is indicative of the
relative aboundance of the corresponding DNA probe in the
Nucleic acid target samples
Wearable Biosensors
Ring Sensor
Modwells
Smart Shirt
Screen-Printed Sensors on Underwear Can
Monitor Body’s Biochemistry
Wearable Systems for Monitoring Mobility-
Related Activities
Wearable Bio-Sensors That Improve Physical,
Emotional Health
Potential applications of biosensors
Biosensors play a part in the field
of environmental quality, medicine
and industry mainly by identifying
material and the degree of
concentration present