Use Of Biosensor Technology Research Articles

Biosensors for saliva biomarkers.

The analysis of salivary biomarkers has gained interest and is advantageous for simple, safe, and non-invasive testing in diagnosis as well as treatment. This chapter explores the importance of saliva biomarkers and summarizes recent advances in biosensor fabrication. The identification of diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic markers in this matrix enables more rapid and frequent testing when combined with the use of biosensor technology. Challenges and future goals are highlighted and examined.

Use of biosensor technology in analysing milk and dairy components: A review

Biosensor technology is relatively new to the dairy industry although it has been used successfully elsewhere including medical devices. This review summarises biosensors with different combinations of biological receptors and transducers which were used to analyse components in milk. Quantification of individual milk proteins and specific detection of lactose were clearly demonstrated. Strain‐specific enumeration of pathogens were also reported along with analyses of raw milk quality parameters relevant for processing. The advantages of using biosensors were consistently shown across numerous studies. Biosensors provide rapid, simple and analyte‐specific techniques, offering unique solutions to support continued innovation in dairy products and processes.

Use of accelerometer technology for individual tracking of activity patterns, metabolic rates and welfare in farmed gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata) facing a wide range of stressors

The biosensor technology has the potential to revolutionize the aquaculture industry, but the selection of tagging method, operational mode (stand-alone vs. wireless systems) and telemetry technology ultimately depends on life species, life stage and research question. In particular, AEFishBIT is a small and stand-alone device composed of a tri-axial accelerometer, a microprocessor, a battery and a RFID tag that was designed to be externally attached to the operculum. This unique location serves to provide simultaneous measurements of activity patterns (signals of x- and y-axes) and respiratory frequency (z-axis signal) processed by on-board algorithms. The validity of measurements was initially proved in exercised fish in a swim tunnel respirometer, and its use as a reliable tool for the individual monitoring of whole-organism traits in free-swimming gilthead sea bream was tested herein in fish facing a wide range of biotic and abiotic stressors. The impact of the tagging method, based on the use of monel piercing fish tags with a flexible heat shrink polyethylene ring, was also evaluated and no signs of growth impairment, operculum damage or gill lamellae haemorrhage were found 10 days post-tagging. The autonomy of the device was 6 h of continuous recording with re-programmable lag times and recording schedules of 2 min windows at regular intervals along the experimental period (2–8 days). Such procedure underlined a negative linear correlation between fasting weight loss and operculum breaths, becoming respiratory frequency a reliable indicator of basal metabolic rates. Biosensing signals also highlighted the more continuous physical activity and increased respiratory rates of young fish when comparisons were made between one- and three-year old fish. Also, AEFishBIT measurements evidenced a generalized increase of respiratory frequency during severe hypoxia (2–3 ppm), but the individuals classified as proactive fish also shared an increased physical activity for supporting escape reactions in a milieu with low oxygen availability. Likewise, we also observed an overall increase of physical activity with the decrease of tank space availability, which can contribute to establish stricter criteria of welfare in farmed fish. Finally, the reduction of respiratory frequency was a consistent diagnostic marker of the progression of parasitic enteritis in experimentally infected fish with the myxozoan Enteromyxum leei. Altogether, this work constitutes the proof of concept of the use of biosensor technology as a reliable tool for an individual whole-organism behavioural profiling of farmed fish at laboratory scale, contributing to improve animal welfare and productivity of aquaculture industry.

Biosensors for waterborne viruses: Detection and removal.

Detection of waterborne viruses is important to eliminate and control their harmful effect as pathogens. Hence, the use of rapid and sensitive detection technologies is critically important as they can aid in investigating outbreaks and help in developing prevention strategies. To date range of viruses can contaminate drinking water sources, causing illnesses such as diarrhoea, pneumonia and gastroenteritis which can result in death. Due to their small size (nm) their complete removal from water can be difficult with current water treatment processes while being resistant to disinfectants. Available techniques for virus detection include filtration technologies, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays and polymerase chain reaction. Although each technique has limitations, the use of biosensor technology with smart affinity materials and nanomaterials can show great potential in sensing viruses in water samples. This review reports on the latest technologies used for waterborne virus removal and detection with focus on rapid detection using biosensors.

Application of Wireless Sensor Networks to Healthcare Promotion

Born on military applications, wireless sensor networks(WSNs) application grew on the promise of environment sensing and data processing capability at low cost. These networks can hold hundreds or even thousands of smart sensing nodes with processing and sensing capabilities and even integrated power through a dedicated battery. This paper surveys on the application of wireless sensor networks to healthcare promotion, namely with the use of biosensor technology applied to body sensor networks. On a wireless body sensor network, a person wears biosensors to gather data, while doing their daily activities. Currently, engineers and medical staff are cooperating on findingnew ways to properly gather meaningful data on-site and achieve a convenient way to process these data for research and on-site medical decision. New challenges that such approach brings are also considered. Moreover, it is shown that wireless sensor networks provide the technology to built wireless sensing and create a convenient infrastructure for multiple data gathering in healthcare applications. Together with real successful examples, we demonstrate the great usefulness of wireless sensor networks in healthcare promotion. The paper concludes with some guidelines for future work.

The use of biosensor technology for the engineering of antibodies and enzymes.

Recently developed scientific instrumentation featuring surface plasmon resonance detection allows the detection of biomolecular interactions in real time and without chemical modification of the binding partners. These biosensors are proving invaluable tools in protein engineering, particularly in research aimed at the isolation and improvement of protein binders and catalysts from macromolecular repertoires containing billions of individual members. This article reviews the use of biosensor technology for the isolation and characterization of engineered antibodies and enzymes.

Thermodynamics of Protein-Protein Interaction Studied by Using BIAcore and Single-Site Mutagenesis

Protein engineering strategies for mapping the functional epitopes of interacting molecules require rapid and accurate methods for measuring binding constants. Results with two systems, a humanized antibody (hu4D5) binding to antigen and coagulation factor VII binding to the cofactor protein tissue factor, are used to describe the use of biosensor technology in mapping protein-protein interfaces. Affinity measurements on the BlAcore are fast and highly reproducible. Binding constants measured by this technique agree with values determined by other methods. For the hu4D5 antibody, results of BlAcore and calorimetric measurements on single alanine mutants show that a few residues in the binding interface dominate the energetics of antigen binding. These mutations primarily affect the off-rate for binding. A complete thermodynamic analysis of antigen binding to these mutant proteins highlights the importance of the hydrophobic effect for binding. These results clearly show that the BlAcore instrument is a powerful tool for evaluating protein-protein interactions.