Optical Biosensors—Principles of Operation and Applications

Biosensors have a recognition element that detects a bioanalyte as well as a transducer that transfers the measured physicochemical properties into an electric signal, which is amplified, processed, and depicted on a user interface and usually stored in a data storage system. Such biosensors can be used in a broad range of applications, from personalized medicine to drug discovery, and from food safety to plant disease diagnosis. Portable biosensors are often based on microfluidic systems or micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS), measuring physical or chemical parameters. In spite of their importance for diverse applications, there are still several limits regarding the portability of biosensors, which is often necessary. Besides the required miniaturization of the components and the limited lifetime of some biological reagents, sample preparation and handling can be problematic. This review gives an overview of recent biosensor research, concentrating on optical measurements, and shows the possibilities and limits of the biosensors developed during the last few years.