Nanobiosensors: A Review on its Design and Clinical Applications

Sensing the biological responses has assumed great significance in the current scenario mainly for pharmaceutical diagnosis, food quality screening and environmental applications. It is so due to dynamic environmental developments and corresponding altered homoeostatic happenings occurring at both in vivo as well as in vitro levels. Nanotechnology has bestowed some highly potential ingredients for the improvement of this sensing phenomenon. Nanomaterial-based biosensors utilize the unique properties of biological and physical nanomaterials like small size, high sensitivity, high electrical conductivity and better shock bearing ability to recognize a target molecule and effect transduction of an electronic signal. The development of tools and processes used to fabricate and measure nanoscale objects, has led to the development of biosensors that interact with extremely small molecules that need to be analyzed. The use of diverse nanomaterials ranging from nanoparticles, nanotubes, nanorods and nanowires has enabled faster detection and its reproducibility in a much better way. Early diagnosis is the key to successfully treate many diseases. Modern biosensors based on nanoscale techniques have the potential to greatly enhance methods of detecting foreign and potentially dangerous toxins and may result in cheaper, faster, and easier-to-use analytical tools. This paper reviews concept, different types, developmental aspects and clinical applications of nanobiosensors.