Open Access Editorial
Journal of
Analytical & Bioanalytical Techniques
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ISSN: 2155-9872
Mahato et al., J Anal Bioanal Tech 2016, 7:2
DOI: 10.4172/2155-9872.1000e125
Volume 7 • Issue 2 • 1000e125
J Anal Bioanal Tech
ISSN: 2155-9872 JABT, an open access journal
Imagine an era where patients will be able to tell the doctor that they
themselves have detected the target molecule (e.g., antigen, proteins,
chemical molecule, etc.) related to a disease using a personalized
diagnostic tools (e.g., glucose for diabetes, Salmonella typhi for typhoid,
bilirubin for anemia). Tis may help the clinicians to quickly design
the adequate therapeutic strategies for patients. A biosensor based
diagnostic technology promises to do just that-quick onsite diagnosis.
Biosensors in general are stand alone miniature portable devices that
can detect range of analytes quickly with the help of transducers that
converts the biological response into measurable analytical signals. It
represents a rapidly expanding feld currently and is expected to reach
$22.68 billion market by 2020. Moving this proof-of-concept device
for everyday analysis of biological or chemical samples has involved
tremendous development in biosensors research [1]. Terefore, many
such diagnostic devices are available in the global market for various
medical purpose such as; malaria testing kit [(CareStart
™
Malaria
HRP2/PLDH; Access Bio, United States) (Maleriscan
®
Malaria Pf/
PAN; Bhat Bio-Tech (P) Ltd., India)], hCG based pregnancy testing
kits [(Pregnosis
®
; Hofmann-La Roche Ltd., Montreal), (Velocit
™
;
Dr.Reddy’s India)], and portable glucometers [(CareStart
™
G6PD,
Access Bio, United States)] etc. Although these miniaturized devices
are extensively fabricated and possess good market potential, research
to improvise the existing designs in terms of relativity, sensitivity,
detection time, and point-of-care diagnosis are still underway [2].
Research and development to design biosensor prototypes has
been rapid and ever expanding. To overcome the challenges related to
sensitivity in detecting and capturing target molecules, introduction
of “nanotechnology” has been found to be extensively useful. Te
advances in nanotechnology ofers sensitive and specifc detection
of analyte by: (i) integrating new novel microfuidic/nanofuidics
technologies to design small, and easy-to-use devices [3], (ii) surface
functionalization of biomaterials on nanocomposites, and (iii) new
signal amplifcation strategies using various nanomaterials [4,5]. Te
developments in nanotechnology and changes in electronic, thermal,
and, optical property of nanoscale materials have brought new
detection methods in biosensing [6-8]. Research and development in
the feld of nanobiosensors is wide and multidisciplinary, spanning
knowledge of researchers from diverse backgrounds such as biological
science, medical science, material science, physics, chemistry,
electronics, mechanical engineering, and other engineering sciences
to develop various types of nanobiosensor prototypes [7,9-11].
Tremendous work has been done on next generation fabrication of
[12], semi-synthetic [13] and synthetic ligands [14], plastic antibodies
[15], catalytic electrodes [16], bioinspired nanotechnologies for
sensing, therapy, and controlled surface for cellular interaction [17], in
vivo [18] and in vitro [19,20] devices for regenerative medicine, arrays,
biomimetics and tele-interfaces for digital health [21]. Tese platforms
may help to design commercially viable nanobiosensor for various
biomedical applications. Among the available nanobiosensor types,
electrochemical readout system is considered to be most powerful due
to its high sensitivity and ability to be miniaturized for fast bimolecular
analysis [22], thereby helping in designing therapeutic strategies
quickly to overcome patients stress [20,23].
Researchers have developed a highly sensitive and interference-
free endotoxin detection system using new nanobiomaterials
and nanobioconjugated paper/plastic settings. Prototypes for
immunosensors [24], lateral fow based biosensors [25], microfuidic
sensor system [26], enzyme sensor [23], paper inkjet sensor [27] etc.
for detection of various clinically important target molecules including
parasite, hormones, cancer biomarkers, heavy metal ions, cancer
cells, and bacteria have been developed. In current years, aptamers
has been extensively studied in diagnostics and therapeutics to design
novel nanobiosensors. Aptamers have been used to design single-
disposable nanobiosensors that can integrate multiple biophysical
and biochemical processes even at low concentrations with high
sensitivity. In a recent report a "real-time aptamer based biosensor" has
been developed [28] that continuously measure specifc biomolecules
directly in living animals. Recent reports demonstrates the ability of
aptamers to diagnose pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma for in vivo
imaging and clinical tissue recognition [29] and detection of human
liver cancer cells [30]. Electrochemically tuned nanostructures has
also been applied to design new nanobiosensor prototypes [31,32].
Researchers have reported tuned molecular probe / surface for
ultrasensitive biomolecular detection of virus [33], circulating nucleic
acids [31], and circulating cancer cells [34].
Currently smartphones because of its handy, well equipped, and
classy features such as: advanced processors, increased memory,
high-resolution camera, high-end security via fngerprinting, and
a variety of built-in sensors has been used to design nanobiosensor
prototypes. Based on the idea to design personalised nanobiosensor
settings, extensive work has been done on portable detection system
using high resolution smartphone cameras [35]. Notable work using
this technology has been done in in-vitro and real-time monitoring of
clinical condition. Te data produced by smartphone based in vitro
diagnostics can be added with spatial and temporal information, which
can be used for monitoring and management in critical situations
[36]. Research on smartphone based nanobiosensor prototypes such
as: lateral fow assays (LFA), microscopy, electrochemical sensing,
immunoassays, surface plasmon resonance-based biosensing, fow
cytometry, and optical detection has been reported [37]. Examples
*Corresponding author: Pranjal Chandra, Department of Biosciences and
Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati-781 039, Assam, India,
Tel: +91(0)-361-258-3207; Fax: 0361-258-2249; E-mail: pchandra13@iitg.ernet.in
Received February 26, 2016; Accepted February 28, 2016; Published March 04,
2016
Citation: Mahato K, Prasad A, Maurya PK, Chandra P (2016) Nanobiosensors:
Next Generation Point-of-Care Biomedical Devices for Personalized Diagnosis. J
Anal Bioanal Tech 7: e125. doi:10.4172/2155-9872.1000e125
Copyright: © 2016 Mahato K, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under
the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and
source are credited.
Nanobiosensors: Next Generation Point-of-Care Biomedical Devices for
Personalized Diagnosis
Kuldeep Mahato
1
, Alisha Prasad
1
, Pawan Kumar Maurya
2
and Pranjal Chandra
1*
1
Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati-781 039, Assam, India
2
Interdisciplinary Laboratory for Clinical Neuroscience (LiNC), Department of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo- UNIFESP, Sao Paulo, Brazil