Announcements

Faced with the pandemic caused by SARS-COV-2, a large number of significant technologies have been developed to solve this health crisis and biosensors have been used for the widespread diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19.

We would like to take this opportunity to extend our appreciation to all of the researchers who have contributed to COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2 biosensing research. We would like to highlight multiple research projects in this field that are not just limited to the topics below.

The list of relevant papers can be seen below:

1. “Survey of Saliva Components and Virus Sensors for Prevention of COVID-19 and Infectious Diseases”
   by Priya Kishor Dave, Roberto Rojas-Cessa, Ziqian Dong and Vatcharapan Umpaichitra
   Biosensors 2021, 11(1), 14; https://doi.org/10.3390/bios11010014
   Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-6374/11/1/14

2. “Food Safety in Post-COVID-19 Pandemic: Challenges and Countermeasures”
   by Weimin Zhang, Huiyu He, Lin Zhu, Guozhen Liu and Long Wu
   Biosensors 2021, 11(3), 71; https://doi.org/10.3390/bios11030071
   Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-6374/11/3/71

3. “Clinical Application of the Novel Cell-Based Biosensor for the Ultra-Rapid Detection of the SARS-CoV-2 S1 Spike Protein Antigen: A Practical Approach”
   by Sophie Mavrikou, Vasileios Tsekouras, Kyriaki Hatziagapiou, Foteini Paradeisi, Petros Bakakos, Athanasios Michos, Antonia Koutsoukou, Elissavet Konstantellou, George I. Lambrou, Eleni Koniari et al.
   Biosensors 2021, 11(7), 224; https://doi.org/10.3390/bios11070224
   Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-6374/11/7/224 

4. “Comparative Study of In Situ Techniques to Enlarge Gold Nanoparticles for Highly Sensitive Lateral Flow Immunoassay of SARS-CoV-2”
   by Vasily G. Panferov, Nadezhda A. Byzova, Sergey F. Biketov, Anatoly V. Zherdev and Boris B. Dzantiev
   Biosensors 2021, 11(7), 229; https://doi.org/10.3390/bios11070229
   Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-6374/11/7/229 

5. “Recent Advances in Novel Lateral Flow Technologies for Detection of COVID-19”
   by Wesley Wei-Wen Hsiao, Trong-Nghia Le, Dinh Minh Pham, Hui-Hsin Ko, Huan-Cheng Chang, Cheng-Chung Lee, Neha Sharma, Cheng-Kang Lee and Wei-Hung Chiang
   Biosensors 2021, 11(9), 295; https://doi.org/10.3390/bios11090295
   Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-6374/11/9/295 

6. “State of the Art on the SARS-CoV-2 Toolkit for Antigen Detection: One Year Later”
   by Laura Fabiani, Veronica Caratelli, Luca Fiore, Viviana Scognamiglio, Amina Antonacci, Silvia Fillo, Riccardo De Santis, Anella Monte, Manfredo Bortone, Danila Moscone et al.
   Biosensors 2021, 11(9), 310; https://doi.org/10.3390/bios11090310
   Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-6374/11/9/310 

7. “Rapid COVID-19 Molecular Diagnostic System Using Virus Enrichment Platform”
   by Yoon Ok Jang, Hyo Joo Lee, Bonhan Koo, Hye-Hee Cha, Ji-Soo Kwon, Ji Yeun Kim, Myoung Gyu Kim, Hyun Soo Kim, Sung-Han Kim and Yong Shin
   Biosensors 2021, 11(10), 373; https://doi.org/10.3390/bios11100373
   Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-6374/11/10/373 

8. “A Review of THz Technologies for Rapid Sensing and Detection of Viruses including SARS-CoV-2”
   by Naznin Akter, Muhammad Mahmudul Hasan and Nezih Pala
   Biosensors 2021, 11(10), 349; https://doi.org/10.3390/bios11100349
   Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-6374/11/10/349 

9. “Emerging Biosensors to Detect Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2): A Review”
   by Wei Yin Lim, Boon Leong Lan and Narayanan Ramakrishnan
   Biosensors 2021, 11(11), 434; https://doi.org/10.3390/bios11110434
   Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-6374/11/11/434

10. “Paper-Based Test for Rapid On-Site Screening of SARS-CoV-2 in Clinical Samples”
    by Wen Ren and Joseph Irudayaraj
    Biosensors 2021, 11(12), 488; https://doi.org/10.3390/bios11120488
    Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-6374/11/12/488

We are pleased to announce the launch of a new initiative—the MDPI Special Issue Mentor Program.

This program will enable early career researchers (who must hold a Ph.D. in a related field) to experience editing a Special Issue in MDPI journals, under the mentorship of our experienced Editorial Board Members or other experienced scientists. The mentor program will provide an excellent opportunity for early career scientists to gain editorial experience, and to cultivate their ability to edit scientific research.

The mentee’s responsibilities include:

• Proposing a Special Issue title and assisting the mentor in preparing a summary (around 200–400 words) and 3–10 keywords describing the background, importance, and goal of the Issue;
• Writing a brief promotion plan for the Special Issue;
• Preparing a list of scholars who may be interested in the Issue and personally e-mailing invitations on behalf of Guest Editors;
• Writing an editorial for the online Special Issue together with the mentor.

The mentor’s responsibilities include:

• Conducting a final check before the Special Issue is published online;
• Performing editorial control of the Special Issue and quality control of the publications, both of which must be carried out in a timely manner;
• Providing suggestions to younger scholars if they have any doubts or concerns regarding submissions;
• Organizing video calls with young scholars and the Editorial Office regularly to discuss problems and improvement suggestions for the Special Issue;
• Making and submitting decisions regarding submissions with the assistance of mentees.

Certificates and awards:
After the Special Issue closes, the Editorial Office will provide official certificates for all the mentors and early career researchers.

If you are interested in this opportunity, please send your Special Issue proposal to the Editorial Office of a journal you choose, and we will discuss the process (i.e., mentor collaboration, Special Issue topic feasibility analysis, etc.) in further detail. The full list of MDPI journals is as follows: https://www.mdpi.com/about/journals.

In addition to the new Special Issue Mentor Program, we will continue to welcome all Special Issue proposals focusing on hot research topics.

We are pleased to announce that Prof. Dr. Francesco Dell’Olio has been appointed Section Editor-in-Chief of the “Optical and Photonic Biosensors” Section in Biosensors (ISSN: 2079-6374).

Name: Prof. Dr. Francesco Dell’Olio
Homepage: https://www.poliba.it/sites/default/files/curriculum/en/CV_DellOlio_1.pdf
Affiliation: Department of Electrical and Information Engineering, Polytechnic University of Bari, 70126 Bari, Italy
Interests: photonics; optoelectronics; sensors; chemosensors

Prof. Dr. Francesco Dell'Olio was awarded his Ph.D. in information and communication technologies in 2010. Since 2019, he has been an Assistant Professor of Electronics at the same university. In 2021, he obtained the National Scientific Qualification for the position of Full Professor in Electronics and Physics of Matter from a unanimous vote by the Commissioners. His research interests include the fields of optoelectronics, photonics, and, primarily, silicon photonics. He is the co-author of 2 books published by Springer and World Scientific, more than 50 papers in international peer-reviewed journals, and 80 papers published in international conference proceedings. Since 2006, he has delivered approximately 50 oral presentations at international conferences, including more than 10 invited talks.

He is a member of the Editorial Board of the international journals Aerospace, Applied Sciences, Biosensors, Chemosensors, and Journal of Sensors and has served as a Guest Editor for several Special Issues. Currently, he is a reviewer for many international journals in the field of optoelectronics and photonics. He is a regular member of the organizing, program, and local committees of international conferences, including CLEO, SPIE Photonics West, and the IEEE Photonics Conference.

Since 2016, he has been the scientific director of two research projects funded by the University Research Fund of the Polytechnic University of Bari. He has been the beneficiary of funds for its research activities under the Fund for the Financing of Basic Research Activities in Italy. He continues to be involved in several research projects funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research, the European Space Agency, the Italian Space Agency, and a few industrial companies with scientific responsibilities. He has spent two research periods at the ESA–ESTEC in Noordwijk, the Netherlands. Finally, he co-founded a startup company, WEATECHO, which is developing wearable devices for eHealth.

The following is a short Q&A with Prof. Dr. Francesco Dell'Olio, who shared with us his vision for the journal and his views of the research area and Open Access publishing:

1. What appealed to you about the journal and encouraged you to become its Section Editor-in-Chief?
Biosensors, more than 10 years after its foundation, is a journal with an established reputation among experts in the field. More and more colleagues working in the field of optical and photonic biosensors choose Biosensors to publish their best theoretical and experimental results. In this new role, I would like to serve the scientific community and above all emerging research groups, developing the editorial initiatives of Biosensors, its attention to young researchers and the most innovative and promising research topics. I accepted this role hoping to contribute to strengthening the scientific community working in the field of optical and photonic biosensors.

2. What is your vision for Biosensors?
Biosensors is already a well-known and well-regarded journal among researchers worldwide. The attention of the global scientific community toward biosensors is growing rapidly. They are essential to implementing the digital health paradigms that are becoming crucial in all developed countries. In this context, my vision is that Biosensors has all the characteristics to become a journal capable of supporting a rapidly growing scientific community.

3. What does the future of this field of research look like?
Research in the field of biosensors is destined to grow above all from a qualitative point of view. Important research projects are underway and their results will produce significant advances in the state of the art. Biosensors would have the strategic objective of contributing to the dissemination of this new scientific and technological knowledge at the service of authors and other stakeholders, ensuring open access to results, rigorous and rapid peer review process and dissemination of the results achieved on a global scale.

4. What do you think of the development of Open Access in the publishing field?
The Gold Open Access paradigm that Biosensors has adopted for every paper since its foundation is an indispensable resource for both the scientific community and society, which is increasingly interested in the real-world application of scientific achievements. In many countries, the publication of results according to the Open Access approach is considered an essential condition for obtaining public funding. Research funded by citizens should generate results whose dissemination is open access. Only in this way can the scientific community, citizens, and companies obtain the greatest possible benefit from the work of those who do research with passion and dedication.

We warmly welcome Prof. Dr. Francesco Dell’Olio as the new Section Editor-in-Chief and we look forward to him leading Biosensors to reach many more milestones.

We are pleased to announce that Dr. Huanyu Cheng has been appointed Section Editor-in-Chief of the “Biosensors Materials” Section in Biosensors (ISSN: 2079-6374).

Name: Dr. Huanyu Cheng
Homepage: https://www.matse.psu.edu/directory/huanyu-%E2%80%9Clarry%E2%80%9D-cheng
Affiliation: Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
Interests: stretchable electronics; transient sensors; advanced manufacturing; standalone stretchable device platform

Dr. Cheng is the James L. Henderson, Jr. Memorial Associate Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics at the Pennsylvania State University (Penn State). He is also affiliated with Penn State’s Institutes of Energy and the Environment; Materials Research Institute (MRI); Institute for Computational and Data Sciences (ICDS); Engineering, Energy, and Environmental Institute (E3I); Sustainability Institute; and additional centers at Penn State. He has also served as an advisor or as an affiliated faculty for the Schreyer Honors College’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Architectural Engineering, and for the additive manufacturing and design graduate program. His research group focuses on the design, fabrication, and application of the standalone stretchable device platform. He also serves as the Associate Editor for 7 journals and as a reviewer for over 200 journals.

The following is a short Q&A with Dr. Huanyu Cheng, who shared his vision for the journal and his views on the research area and Open Access publishing:

1. What appealed to you about the journal and encouraged you to become its Section Editor-in-Chief?
It is my great pleasure and honor to take over as the Section Editor-in-Chief of Biosensors after serving as the Associate Editor for the past two years. With a goal to provide an advanced open access forum for studies related to the science and technology of biosensors and biosensing, “Biosensors Materials” has been rapidly growing over recent years. It is certainly a very important scientific journal in the field. It complements the other biosensor and biosensing journals with its rather rapid publication time and open access feature.

2. What is your vision for Biosensors?
I hope to contribute to the development of “Biosensors Materials” as it continues to evolve as an active community and home for the researchers working in this rapidly emerging field. I plan to maintain and possibly further improve the high-quality review process, while also continuing to quickly publish the latest work in the field. The potential for the authors to receive valuable feedback in a short time and promptly communicate their research outcomes can help attract high-quality work to promote journal developments.

3. What does the future of this field of research look like?
Different from those that are based on traditional disciplines, the field of biosensors is intrinsically multidisciplinary. As the best research often nucleates from and builds around grand challenges, the future of this field will swiftly evolve with new classes of materials and techniques. Pioneers are asking dynamic scientific questions, with focus on population health from preventative monitoring and early diagnostic confirmation to non-invasive therapeutic options and treatment evaluations. Joint efforts and close collaboration are still needed to provide collective wisdom that links materials, mechanical, electrical, and biomedical engineering with life sciences and medicine.

4. What do you think of the development of Open Access in the publishing field?
As a past member of the Global Young Academy (GYA), I would like to echo the voice outlined in the position statement, titled “Opportunities and Challenges for Implementing Plan S—The View of Young Academies”. Spearheaded by the GYA and several national young academies, the statement considers the set of principles offered by Plan S to be “an invitation to contribute to shaping the research ecosystem and its impact on society as a whole. At the same time, given the large room for possible interpretation and implementation, there is much concern that Plan S may not lead to the positive changes that we, as young scholars, think are necessary”. Publicly funded research output should neither be hidden behind paywalls nor be a “pay-to-publish” game. Open Access is essential in shaping the research ecosystem to move toward broad open science.

We warmly welcome Dr. Huanyu Cheng as the new Section Editor-in-Chief and we look forward to him leading Biosensors to reach many more milestones.

MDPI has just become the first open access (OA) publisher to reach the milestone of one million articles published. That is one million articles freely available to all, to circulate and build upon! We are proud to share this special moment with the global scientific community.

This landmark has been reached thanks to the immeasurable support of more than 600,000 expert reviewers, 66,000 editorial board members and 6700 hard-working colleagues across MDPI’s global offices.

Within more than 25 years of publishing, our journals received 2.1 million manuscripts and generated 4.6 million peer review reports to get to one million papers published.

Reaching the milestone of one million articles published reinforces our mission to remove any existing barriers and to make scientific research accessible to all. Since its inception, MDPI’s goal has been to create reliable processes to make science open. This is a path towards facilitating the dissemination of novel insights in scientific communities.

Regular feedback from authors and reviewers shows that our service is greatly appreciated and needed. At the same time, the feedback helps us identify areas for further improvement.

As it stands, a significant share of published research findings remain closed access. More than half of the content published with the most well-known legacy publishers stays behind a paywall, and that is not including articles published in hybrid OA journals, or made available months or years after publication.

A new policy announced by the US administration in August 2022 requires that, as of January 2026, all US federally funded research be made freely and immediately available after publication. While the new policy does not mandate articles be published under an open access license, it is aligned with the open access movement in removing all barriers to research. Similarly, some of the most advanced research institutions in the world intend to have all funded research articles published in open access by 2025.

MDPI is proud to be the leading agent of the transition to open access.

"Thanks a Million" to all the contributors!

We are pleased to announce the launch of a new Section titled “Wearable Biosensors” in the journal Biosensors (ISSN: 2079-6374).

The Section “Wearable Biosensors” publishes original peer-reviewed papers in the field of wearable sensing technology to noninvasively measure biochemical markers in biofluids. It covers a wide range of applications and wearable biosensor types.

Potential Topics:

Representative Examples of Wearable Biosensors

• Epidermal wearable biosensors;
• Eyeglasses;
• Smart contact lenses;
• Chem–phys hybrid sensor patches;
• Integrated sensor arrays;
• Wearable diagnostics;
• Self-powered textile-based biosensors;
• Mouthguards;
• Graphene-based tooth sensors;
• Nanomaterial based patches;
• Iontophoretic patch biosensors;
• Optical sensors;
• Tattoo patch sensor.

Their Design or Utility

• Wrist-mounted wearable devices (wristbands; wrist watches; wrist patches);
• Head-mounted devices (eyeglasses; cavitas; caps/helmets);
• E-textiles/smart clothing;
• Chest-mounted devices;
• Ingestible sensors.

Transduction Principles

• Microfluidic-integrated wearable biosensors;
• Colorimetric-based wearable sensors;
• Electrochemical-based wearable sensors;
• Optical-based sensors.

Materials Use

• Self-healing flexible wearable sensors (self-healing polymer; conductive ink; hydrogels; dynamic polymer materials);
• Biocompatible wearable sensors (nanoscale material; bioresorbable silicon; cellulose; chitin; alginate; polydimethylsiloxane; polyurethane);
• Biodegradable flexible sensors.

Application for Detection of Biomarkers in Biofluids

• Saliva; tears; sweat;
• Implantable and subcutaneous;
• Wearable biosensors;
• Blood; interstitial fluid; wound fluid.

Technology and Timing Response

• Real-time response;
• Multi-functional response;
• Personalized response;
• Remote response;
• Continuous response;
• Intelligent response.

For more detailed information, please visit the following link: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/biosensors/sections/wearable_biosensors.

Biosensors Editorial Office

We are pleased to announce that the website of the MDPI Sustainability Foundation has been revamped! For the past couple of months, our UX UI team and front-end developers have been working hard to launch the website in time for the opening of the Sustainability Awards nominations.

The website is not the only thing that has had a remodeling. Indeed, the format of the Emerging Sustainability Leader Award (ESLA) has been updated. ESLA is now a competition open to individual researchers or start-ups founded by researchers under the age of 35. Nominee applications will go through 2 rounds of selection until the final 3 are decided. The finalists will then be invited to give pitch presentations during the Award Ceremony to win either first place (10,000 USD) or runner-up (2 x 5000 USD).

The World Sustainability Award, on the other hand, remains the same: a total prize money of 100,000 USD is up for grabs by senior individual researchers or groups of researchers from the international research community.

Nominations for both the World Sustainability Award and the Emerging Sustainability Leader award are now open! Check out our new website for more information on how to nominate.

Over the past decades, wearable biosensors have demonstrated great potential for revolutionizing personalized healthcare and telemedicine. Advances in chemical sensing, flexible materials, and scalable manufacturing techniques allow wearable biosensors to detect key physiological indicators, such as temperature, vital signs, body motion, and molecular biomarkers.

We would like to take this opportunity to extend our appreciation to all of the researchers who have contributed to wearable biosensors. We would like to highlight multiple research projects in this field that are not just limited to the topics below.

The list of relevant papers can be seen below:

1. “Wearable Skin Sensors and Their Challenges: A Review of Transdermal, Optical, and Mechanical Sensors”
by Ahmad Tarar, A.; Mohammad, U. and K. Srivastava, S.
Biosensors 2020, 10(6), 56; https://doi.org/10.3390/bios10060056
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-6374/10/6/56

2. “Screen-Printed Electrodes: Promising Paper and Wearable Transducers for (Bio)Sensing”
by Yáñez-Sedeño, P.; Campuzano, S. and Pingarrón, J. M.
Biosensors 2020, 10(7), 76; https://doi.org/10.3390/bios10070076
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-6374/10/7/76

3. “Skin-Integrated Wearable Systems and Implantable Biosensors: A Comprehensive Review”
by Rodrigues, D.; Barbosa, A. I.; Rebelo, R.; Kwon, I. K.; Reis, R. L. and Correlo, V. M.
Biosensors 2020, 10(7), 79; https://doi.org/10.3390/bios10070079
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-6374/10/7/79

4. “Wearable Intracranial Pressure Monitoring Sensor for Infants”
by Zhang, B.; Huang, Z.; Song, H.; Kim, H. S. and Park, J.
Biosensors 2021, 11(7), 213; https://doi.org/10.3390/bios11070213
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-6374/11/7/213

5. “A Novel Lightweight Wearable Soft Exosuit for Reducing the Metabolic Rate and Muscle Fatigue”
by Chen, L.; Chen, C.; Wang, Z.; Ye, X.; Liu, Y. and Wu, X.
Biosensors 2021, 11(7), 215; https://doi.org/10.3390/bios11070215
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-6374/11/7/215

6. “Wearable Biosensors for Non-Invasive Sweat Diagnostics”
by Xu, J.; Fang, Y. and Chen, J.
Biosensors 2021, 11(8), 245; https://doi.org/10.3390/bios11080245
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-6374/11/8/245

7. “An Ultra-Low Power Surface EMG Sensor for Wearable Biometric and Medical Applications”
by Wu, Y.-D.; Ruan, S.-J. and Lee, Y.-H.
Biosensors 2021, 11(11), 411; https://doi.org/10.3390/bios11110411
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-6374/11/11/411

8. “Enabling Continuous Wearable Reflectance Pulse Oximetry at the Sternum”
by Chan, M.; Ganti, V. G.; Heller, J. A.; Abdallah, C. A.; Etemadi, M. and Inan, O. T.
Biosensors 2021, 11(12), 521; https://doi.org/10.3390/bios11120521
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-6374/11/12/521

9. “Wearable Sensors for the Detection of Biomarkers for Wound Infection”
by Pusta, A.; Tertiș, M.; Cristea, C. and Mirel, S.
Biosensors 2022, 12(1), 1; https://doi.org/10.3390/bios12010001
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-6374/12/1/1

10. “A Review of Recent Advances in Flexible Wearable Sensors for Wound Detection Based on Optical and Electrical Sensing”
by Sun, X.; Zhang, Y.; Ma, C.; Yuan, Q.; Wang, X.; Wan, H. and Wang, P.
Biosensors 2022, 12(1), 10; https://doi.org/10.3390/bios12010010
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-6374/12/1/10