A Review on Emerging Trends in Biotechnology-Based Sensors

Abstract

Biosensors, or biotechnology-based sensors, have evolved from laboratory prototypes into key tools in healthcare diagnostics, food safety, environmental monitoring, industrial bioprocess control, and precision agriculture. They combine biological recognition elements—enzymes, antibodies, nucleic acids, aptamers, or cells—with transduction systems such as electrochemical, optical, piezoelectric, thermal, or magnetic mechanisms to detect biochemical interactions. Advances in nanotechnology, microfluidics, synthetic biology, wearable electronics, and data-driven analytics have improved biosensor performance by enabling lower detection limits, faster responses, multiplex detection, better function in complex samples, and support for point-of-care or at-home testing. Multiplex biosensors detect multiple biomarkers simultaneously using technologies like microarrays, barcoded nanoparticles, and multi-electrode arrays, which is valuable for diseases such as cancer and inflammatory disorders. Nanomaterials—including graphene, MoS₂, carbon nanotubes, metal-organic frameworks, plasmonic nanostructures, and engineered nanoparticles—enhance sensitivity by increasing surface area and improving signal transfer. Antifouling strategies such as PEGylation, zwitterionic coatings, and hydrogels maintain sensor performance in complex samples like blood, saliva, sweat, and wastewater. Wearable biosensors use flexible materials and epidermal electronics to continuously monitor analytes in sweat, tears, or interstitial fluid and connect wirelessly to smartphones through Bluetooth or NFC for real-time monitoring. Machine learning and AI improve data analysis, while CRISPR-based biosensors using Cas12 and Cas13 allow highly specific nucleic acid detection. Synthetic biology also enables programmable cell-based biosensors. In industrial biotechnology, biosensors monitor glucose, lactate, pH, dissolved oxygen, and product levels in real time to optimize process efficiency and yield. Environmental biosensors detect heavy metals, pesticides, endocrine-disrupting chemicals, and microbial contamination, often integrated with IoT networks. However, challenges remain in receptor stability, nanomaterial reproducibility, large-scale manufacturing, regulatory approval, AI transparency, and sustainable disposal of single-use sensors.