Biosensors: 10th Anniversary Feature Papers

A special issue of Biosensors (ISSN 2079-6374).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 December 2021) | Viewed by 26240

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Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies (CESAM), Department of Chemistry, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
Interests: analytical chemistry; microplastics; nanoplastics; bioremediation
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The Biosensors journal was funded in 2010. During these 10 years, Biosensors has published more than 50 special issues and 550 papers and welcomed breakthrough and innovative papers in biosensors developed for applications in food, health, security and defence, and environmental fields. The Biosensors journal also covers all aspects of sensors incorporating biorecognition elements, such as (but not limited to) enzymes, antibodies, nucleic acids, whole cells, tissues and organelles, and other biological or biologically inspired components. All the transducer principles are also covered in this journal. The year 2020 marks its 10th anniversary and its acceptance for coverage in the Science Citation Expanded (SCIE) in Web of Science. We are thus excited to celebrate the Biosensors journal’s 10th anniversary with a Special issue.

This Special Issue welcomes both research and review papers in the most recent and innovative developments of biosensors for applications in the food, health, security, and defence and environmental fields.

Dr. Teresa A. P. Rocha-Santos
Dr. João P. da Costa
Guest Editors

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 3825 KiB  
Article
Towards Multi-Analyte Detection with Field-Effect Capacitors Modified with Tobacco Mosaic Virus Bioparticles as Enzyme Nanocarriers
by Melanie Welden, Arshak Poghossian, Farnoosh Vahidpour, Tim Wendlandt, Michael Keusgen, Christina Wege and Michael J. Schöning
Biosensors 2022, 12(1), 43; https://doi.org/10.3390/bios12010043 - 14 Jan 2022
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3621
Abstract
Utilizing an appropriate enzyme immobilization strategy is crucial for designing enzyme-based biosensors. Plant virus-like particles represent ideal nanoscaffolds for an extremely dense and precise immobilization of enzymes, due to their regular shape, high surface-to-volume ratio and high density of surface binding sites. In [...] Read more.
Utilizing an appropriate enzyme immobilization strategy is crucial for designing enzyme-based biosensors. Plant virus-like particles represent ideal nanoscaffolds for an extremely dense and precise immobilization of enzymes, due to their regular shape, high surface-to-volume ratio and high density of surface binding sites. In the present work, tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) particles were applied for the co-immobilization of penicillinase and urease onto the gate surface of a field-effect electrolyte-insulator-semiconductor capacitor (EISCAP) with a p-Si-SiO2-Ta2O5 layer structure for the sequential detection of penicillin and urea. The TMV-assisted bi-enzyme EISCAP biosensor exhibited a high urea and penicillin sensitivity of 54 and 85 mV/dec, respectively, in the concentration range of 0.1–3 mM. For comparison, the characteristics of single-enzyme EISCAP biosensors modified with TMV particles immobilized with either penicillinase or urease were also investigated. The surface morphology of the TMV-modified Ta2O5-gate was analyzed by scanning electron microscopy. Additionally, the bi-enzyme EISCAP was applied to mimic an XOR (Exclusive OR) enzyme logic gate. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biosensors: 10th Anniversary Feature Papers)
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11 pages, 2136 KiB  
Article
Electromagnetic Piezoelectric Acoustic Sensor Detection of Extracellular Vesicles through Interaction with Detached Vesicle Proteins
by Loránd Románszki, Zoltán Varga, Judith Mihály, Zsófia Keresztes and Michael Thompson
Biosensors 2020, 10(11), 173; https://doi.org/10.3390/bios10110173 - 11 Nov 2020
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3259
Abstract
An electromagnetic piezoelectric acoustic sensor (EMPAS) was used to study the non-specific adsorption of human red blood cell-derived extracellular vesicle preparations. Vesicle storage history (temperature and duration) highly affected the obtained results: The signal change, namely the frequency decrease of the crystal measured [...] Read more.
An electromagnetic piezoelectric acoustic sensor (EMPAS) was used to study the non-specific adsorption of human red blood cell-derived extracellular vesicle preparations. Vesicle storage history (temperature and duration) highly affected the obtained results: The signal change, namely the frequency decrease of the crystal measured at 20 °C, was negligibly small (<1 s−2) when the vesicle solutions had previously been stored at 4 °C, and was in the order of 10 s−2 when the vesicle solutions had been stored at −30 °C. Moreover, the rate of frequency decrease increased exponentially with the storage time at −30 °C. Upon a 4 °C storage period following the −30 °C storage period of the same sample, the measured frequency decrease dropped, suggesting a partial relaxation of the system. The results are explained by the disintegration of the vesicles triggered by the freeze–thaw cycle, likely due to the detachment of proteins from the vesicle surface as was proved by size-exclusion chromatography. Surface modification of the sensor crystal provided the possibility of signal enhancement, as the maximum rate of the frequency change for the same vesicle concentrations was higher on hydrophobic, octadecyl trichlorosilane–modified quartz than on hydrophilic, bare quartz. The EMPAS signal has been associated with the amount of detached proteins, which in turn is proportional to the originating vesicle concentration. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biosensors: 10th Anniversary Feature Papers)
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18 pages, 2997 KiB  
Article
Yeast-Based Fluorescent Sensors for the Simultaneous Detection of Estrogenic and Androgenic Compounds, Coupled with High-Performance Thin Layer Chromatography
by Liat Moscovici, Carolin Riegraf, Nidaa Abu-Rmailah, Hadas Atias, Dror Shakibai, Sebastian Buchinger, Georg Reifferscheid and Shimshon Belkin
Biosensors 2020, 10(11), 169; https://doi.org/10.3390/bios10110169 - 8 Nov 2020
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 3815
Abstract
The persistence of endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) throughout wastewater treatment processes poses a significant health threat to humans and to the environment. The analysis of EDCs in wastewater remains a challenge for several reasons, including (a) the multitude of bioactive but partially unknown [...] Read more.
The persistence of endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) throughout wastewater treatment processes poses a significant health threat to humans and to the environment. The analysis of EDCs in wastewater remains a challenge for several reasons, including (a) the multitude of bioactive but partially unknown compounds, (b) the complexity of the wastewater matrix, and (c) the required analytical sensitivity. By coupling biological assays with high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC), different samples can be screened simultaneously, highlighting their active components; these may then be identified by chemical analysis. To allow the multiparallel detection of diverse endocrine disruption activities, we have constructed Saccharomyces cerevisiae-based bioreporter strains, responding to compounds with either estrogenic or androgenic activity, by the expression of green (EGFP), red (mRuby), or blue (mTagBFP2) fluorescent proteins. We demonstrate the analytical potential inherent in combining chromatographic compound separation with a direct fluorescent signal detection of EDC activities. The applicability of the system is further demonstrated by separating influent samples of wastewater treatment plants, and simultaneously quantifying estrogenic and androgenic activities of their components. The combination of a chemical separation technique with an optical yeast-based bioassay presents a potentially valuable addition to our arsenal of environmental pollution monitoring tools. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biosensors: 10th Anniversary Feature Papers)
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18 pages, 2072 KiB  
Article
Detecting Vasodilation as Potential Diagnostic Biomarker in Breast Cancer Using Deep Learning-Driven Thermomics
by Bardia Yousefi, Hamed Akbari and Xavier P.V. Maldague
Biosensors 2020, 10(11), 164; https://doi.org/10.3390/bios10110164 - 31 Oct 2020
Cited by 19 | Viewed by 4226
Abstract
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. Early diagnosis improves outcome and survival, which is the cornerstone of breast cancer treatment. Thermography has been utilized as a complementary diagnostic technique in breast cancer detection. Artificial intelligence (AI) has the capacity to [...] Read more.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. Early diagnosis improves outcome and survival, which is the cornerstone of breast cancer treatment. Thermography has been utilized as a complementary diagnostic technique in breast cancer detection. Artificial intelligence (AI) has the capacity to capture and analyze the entire concealed information in thermography. In this study, we propose a method to potentially detect the immunohistochemical response to breast cancer by finding thermal heterogeneous patterns in the targeted area. In this study for breast cancer screening 208 subjects participated and normal and abnormal (diagnosed by mammography or clinical diagnosis) conditions were analyzed. High-dimensional deep thermomic features were extracted from the ResNet-50 pre-trained model from low-rank thermal matrix approximation using sparse principal component analysis. Then, a sparse deep autoencoder designed and trained for such data decreases the dimensionality to 16 latent space thermomic features. A random forest model was used to classify the participants. The proposed method preserves thermal heterogeneity, which leads to successful classification between normal and abnormal subjects with an accuracy of 78.16% (73.3–81.07%). By non-invasively capturing a thermal map of the entire tumor, the proposed method can assist in screening and diagnosing this malignancy. These thermal signatures may preoperatively stratify the patients for personalized treatment planning and potentially monitor the patients during treatment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biosensors: 10th Anniversary Feature Papers)
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Review

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26 pages, 3379 KiB  
Review
Advances in the Detection of Dithiocarbamate Fungicides: Opportunities for Biosensors
by Pablo Fanjul-Bolado, Ronen Fogel, Janice Limson, Cristina Purcarea and Alina Vasilescu
Biosensors 2021, 11(1), 12; https://doi.org/10.3390/bios11010012 - 30 Dec 2020
Cited by 30 | Viewed by 5563
Abstract
Dithiocarbamate fungicides (DTFs) are widely used to control various fungal diseases in crops and ornamental plants. Maximum residual limits in the order of ppb-ppm are currently imposed by legislation to prevent toxicity problems associated with excessive use of DTFs. The specific analytical determination [...] Read more.
Dithiocarbamate fungicides (DTFs) are widely used to control various fungal diseases in crops and ornamental plants. Maximum residual limits in the order of ppb-ppm are currently imposed by legislation to prevent toxicity problems associated with excessive use of DTFs. The specific analytical determination of DTFs is complicated by their low solubility in water and organic solvents. This review summarizes the current analytical procedures used for the analysis of DTF, including chromatography, spectroscopy, and sensor-based methods and discusses the challenges related to selectivity, sensitivity, and sample preparation. Biosensors based on enzymatic inhibition demonstrated potential as analytical tools for DTFs and warrant further research, considering novel enzymes from extremophilic sources. Meanwhile, Raman spectroscopy and various sensors appear very promising, provided the selectivity issues are solved. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biosensors: 10th Anniversary Feature Papers)
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19 pages, 3848 KiB  
Review
Biosensors for Antioxidants Detection: Trends and Perspectives
by Melinda David, Monica Florescu and Camelia Bala
Biosensors 2020, 10(9), 112; https://doi.org/10.3390/bios10090112 - 1 Sep 2020
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 4479
Abstract
Herein we review the recent advances in biosensors for antioxidants detection underlying principles particularly emphasizing advantages along with limitations regarding the ability to discriminate between the specific antioxidant or total content. Recent advances in both direct detection of antioxidants, but also on indirect [...] Read more.
Herein we review the recent advances in biosensors for antioxidants detection underlying principles particularly emphasizing advantages along with limitations regarding the ability to discriminate between the specific antioxidant or total content. Recent advances in both direct detection of antioxidants, but also on indirect detection, measuring the induced damage on DNA-based biosensors are critically analysed. Additionally, latest developments on (bio)electronic tongues are also presented. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biosensors: 10th Anniversary Feature Papers)
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