Advanced Luminescent Materials in Biological Detection, Imaging, and Diagnostic Applications
A special issue of Biosensors (ISSN 2079-6374). This special issue belongs to the section "Biosensor and Bioelectronic Devices".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 July 2026 | Viewed by 14
Special Issue Editors
Interests: organic luminescent materials; bioimaging; disease theranostics
Interests: aggregate materials; mechanistic studies; biological applications
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
This Special Issue of Biosensors explores the intersection of luminescent materials and biosensing, highlighting advanced materials that are engineered to interact specifically with biological systems for detection, imaging, and diagnostic purposes.
A key focus lies on the application of luminescent materials—such as quantum dots, rare earth nanoparticles, carbon-based nanomaterials, metal nanoclusters, organic probes, porous framework materials, and hybrid materials—within functional biosensing architectures. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Design of luminescent biosensors for high-sensitivity detection of biological signaling molecules (e.g., ions, gases, ROS, proteins, and nucleic acids), metabolites, and pathogens.
- Luminescent material-based imaging agents for high-resolution molecular microscopy, cellular tracking, and in vivo imaging.
- Ratiometric, multiplexed, and activatable probes for improved analytical accuracy.
- Integration of luminescent materials with lab-on-a-chip, wearable, and point-of-need devices.
- Signal amplification strategies and single-molecule biosensing.
We welcome studies that address material–biology interface challenges, such as bioconjugation strategies, stability in complex media, and quantitative biosensing performance. Submissions may also explore applications in environmental monitoring, food safety, bioprocess control, clinical, and non-clinical diagnostic development.
This Special Issue aims to showcase innovations where luminescent materials serve as essential enabling components in next-generation biosensing systems, offering new dimensions in speed, specificity, and multi-parameter detection.
Dr. Zhijun Zhang
Prof. Dr. Dong Wang
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Biosensors is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- luminescent materials
- biosensing
- molecular imaging
- cellular tracking
- in vivo imaging
- disease diagnosis
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