Nanotechnology is playing an increasingly important role in the development of biosensors. Nanoparticles have numerous possible application in biosensors. For example, functional nanoparticles (electronic, optical and magnetic) bound to biological molecules (e.g. peptides, proteins, nucleic acids) have been developed for use in biosensors to detect and amplify various signals. Some of the nanoparticle-based sensors include the acoustic wave biosensors, optical biosensors, magnetic and electrochemical biosensors. The sensitivity and performance of biosensors is being improved by using nanomaterials for their construction. The use of these nanomaterials has allowed the introduction of many new signal transduction technologies in biosensors. Because of their submicron dimensions, nanosensors, nanoprobes and other nanosystems have allowed simple and rapid analyses in vivo. Portable instruments capable of analyzing multiple components are becoming available. For example nanostructured enzyme biosensor has been designed for the detection and monitoring of phosphate and nitrate in water and sediment samples, as well as sulfite in wine, beverage and food samples. Biosensor research is strongly interdisciplinary as it requires experience in chemistry, biochemistry, biology, material science, electronics and engineering.
NASA has developed nanotechnology-based biosensor, designed to detect trace amounts of specific bacteria, viruses and parasites. This biosensor will be used to help prevent the spread of potentially deadly biohazards in water, food and other contaminated sources. The biosensor makes use of ultra-sensitive carbon nanotubes which can detect biohazards at very low levels. According to chief scientist of NASA when biohazards are present, the biosensor generates an electrical signal, which is used to determine the presence and concentration levels of specific micro-organisms in the sample. Because of their tiny size, millions of nanotubes can fit on a single biosensor chip.
scientists Yang Liu, Shantanu Chakrabartty and Evangelyn Alocilja at Michigan State University have developed a biosensor that can also measure the amount of pathogen contamination on a particular food or machine, giving processors more data to determine the extent of a problem.
Researchers at Purdue University have developed a new precise biosensor for detecting blood glucose and other biological molecules using hollow structures called single-wall carbon nanotubes anchored to gold-coated "nanocubes." The device resembles a tiny cube-shaped tetherball anchored to electronic circuitry by a nanotube.