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Biosensors
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Optical Sensors for Biological Detection
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Optical Sensors for Biological Detection

A special issue of Biosensors (ISSN 2079-6374). This special issue belongs to the section "Optical and Photonic Biosensors".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2026 | Viewed by 2515

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Miquel Avella-Oliver

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Instituto Interuniversitario de Investigación de Reconocimiento Molecular y Desarrollo Tecnológico (IDM), Universitat Politècnica de València, Universitat de València, 46022 Valencia, Spain
2. Departamento de Química, Universitat Politècnica de València, 46022 Valencia, Spain
Interests: optical biosensors; label-free; point-of-care; diffraction; biolayers; gratings; nanopatterning; immunosensors; signal processing; nanostructures; transduction; photonics
Prof. Dr. Ángel Maquieira

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Instituto Interuniversitario de Investigación de Reconocimiento Molecular y Desarrollo Tecnológico (IDM), Universitat Politècnica de València, Universitat de València, 46022 Valencia, Spain
2. Departamento de Química, Universitat Politècnica de València, 46022 Valencia, Spain
Interests: immunochemical methods; surface chemistry; nanomaterials for bioanalysis; photonic biosensing; screening systems; bioreagents development
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite contributions to this Special Issue on optical biosensing. This innovative field lies at the intersection of chemistry, optics, biology, nanoscience, engineering, and materials science, and offers new and unique solutions to society's analytical needs.

The scope of this Special Issue is broad, ranging from fundamental studies at the proof-of-concept level to novel applications of optical biosensing technologies in relevant scenarios. Our goal is to bring together the latest advancements in consolidated transduction systems (SPR, interferometry, SERS, fiber-based sensors, etc.) while also encouraging contributions on emerging materials and biosensing principles.

We welcome full-length research papers, short communications featuring groundbreaking preliminary results or significant findings, as well as review papers that comprehensively cover relevant aspects of optical biosensing.

We look forward to your participation in this Special Issue.

Dr. Miquel Avella-Oliver
Prof. Dr. Ángel Maquieira
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

  • label-free
  • biosensor
  • plasmonics
  • photonics
  • nanostructure
  • transduction
  • point-of-care
  • lab-on-a-chip
  • wearable
  • SPR
  • SERS
  • waveguiding
  • interferometry
  • immunosensor
  • DNA biosensors

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 5372 KiB  
Article
High-Resolution Imaging of Morphological Changes Associated with Apoptosis and Necrosis Using Single-Cell Full-Field Optical Coherence Tomography
by Suyeon Kang, Kyeong Ryeol Kim, Minju Cho, Joonseup Hwang, Joon-Mo Yang, Jun Ki Kim and Woo June Choi
Biosensors 2025, 15(8), 522; https://doi.org/10.3390/bios15080522 (registering DOI) - 9 Aug 2025
Abstract
Full-field optical coherence tomography (FF-OCT) is a high-resolution interferometric imaging technique that enables label-free visualization of cellular structural changes. In this study, we employed a custom-built time-domain FF-OCT system to monitor morphological alterations in HeLa cells undergoing doxorubicin-induced apoptosis and ethanol-induced necrosis at [...] Read more.
Full-field optical coherence tomography (FF-OCT) is a high-resolution interferometric imaging technique that enables label-free visualization of cellular structural changes. In this study, we employed a custom-built time-domain FF-OCT system to monitor morphological alterations in HeLa cells undergoing doxorubicin-induced apoptosis and ethanol-induced necrosis at the single-cell level. Apoptotic cells showed characteristic features such as echinoid spine formation, cell contraction, membrane blebbing, and filopodia reorganization. In contrast, necrotic cells exhibited rapid membrane rupture, intracellular content leakage, and abrupt loss of adhesion structure. These dynamic events were visualized using high-resolution tomography and three-dimensional surface topography mapping. Furthermore, FF-OCT-based interference reflection microscopy (IRM)-like imaging effectively highlighted changes in cell–substrate adhesion and cell boundary integrity during the cell death process. Our findings suggest that FF-OCT is a powerful imaging platform for distinguishing cell death pathways and assessing dynamic cellular states, with potential applications in drug toxicity testing, anticancer therapy evaluation, and regenerative medicine. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optical Sensors for Biological Detection)
14 pages, 5194 KiB  
Article
Drying-Induced Salt Deposition Patterns as a Tool for Label-Free Protein Quantification
by Arturo Patrone-Garcia, Miquel Avella-Oliver and Ángel Maquieira
Biosensors 2025, 15(8), 520; https://doi.org/10.3390/bios15080520 (registering DOI) - 9 Aug 2025
Abstract
This work reports a label-free analytical strategy based on protein-induced modulation of salt crystallization patterns upon drying. This method relies on the consistent observation that protein-containing saline samples produce distinct salt deposition morphologies compared to protein-free controls. The work first demonstrates the concept [...] Read more.
This work reports a label-free analytical strategy based on protein-induced modulation of salt crystallization patterns upon drying. This method relies on the consistent observation that protein-containing saline samples produce distinct salt deposition morphologies compared to protein-free controls. The work first demonstrates the concept of this phenomenon and characterizes the structural features of the resulting salt patterns. Then, systematic experiments with different solution compositions, substrates, surface coatings, and protein types confirm the generality of this differential deposition behavior and its dependence on total protein concentration. Two complementary measurement approaches are evaluated: a custom laser-scattering setup for optical attenuation measurements and a digital image analysis method based on pixel intensity distributions. Both strategies enable quantitative protein detection in simple (casein) and complex (human serum) samples, offering good correlations between signal and concentration and detection limits in the range of 2–18 µg·mL−1 for digital image analysis and 162–205 µg·mL−1 for optical attenuation measurements. These findings introduce an appealing paradigm for protein quantification exploiting drying-mediated crystallization phenomena, with potential for simple and label-free bioanalytical assays. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optical Sensors for Biological Detection)
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15 pages, 5424 KiB  
Article
Biosensing by Polymer-Coated Etched Long-Period Fiber Gratings Working near Mode Transition and Turn-around Point
by Tanoy Kumar Dey, Cosimo Trono, Palas Biswas, Ambra Giannetti, Nandini Basumallick, Francesco Baldini, Somnath Bandyopadhyay and Sara Tombelli
Biosensors 2023, 13(7), 731; https://doi.org/10.3390/bios13070731 - 13 Jul 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1775
Abstract
A methodology to enhance the sensitivity of long-period fiber gratings (LPFGs) based on the combination of three different enhancement approaches is presented; the methods here adopted are the working near mode transition (MT) of a cladding mode (CM), working near the turn-around point [...] Read more.
A methodology to enhance the sensitivity of long-period fiber gratings (LPFGs) based on the combination of three different enhancement approaches is presented; the methods here adopted are the working near mode transition (MT) of a cladding mode (CM), working near the turn-around point of a CM and the enhancement of the evanescent field of CMs by reducing the cladding diameter or by increasing the order number of CMs. In order to combine these enhancement methodologies, an electrostatic self-assembly (ESA) process was used to deposit a polymeric overlay, with a chosen thickness, onto the etched fiber. The add-layer sensitivity of the sensor was theoretically calculated, and the demonstration of the real applicability of the developed LPFG as a biosensor was performed by means of an IgG/anti-IgG immunoassay in human serum in a thermostated microfluidic system. The limits of detection (LODs) calculated by following different procedures (three times the standard deviation of the blank and the mean value of the residuals) were 6.9 × 10−8 µg/mL and 4.5 × 10−6 µg/mL, respectively. The calculated LODs demonstrate the effectiveness of the applied methodology for sensitivity enhancement. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optical Sensors for Biological Detection)
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