Fluorescent Biosensors: Design, Mechanisms, and Applications
A special issue of Biosensors (ISSN 2079-6374). This special issue belongs to the section "Optical and Photonic Biosensors".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2026 | Viewed by 165
Special Issue Editor
Interests: nanoparticles research; biosensors; fluorescent probes; electrochemistry-based immunoassay; supramolecular chemistry; artificial antibodies
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Biosensors are analytical devices designed to detect the presence of an analyte of interest, such as a biologically important small molecule (e.g., glucose and adenosine triphosphate), biomolecule (e.g., peptides, DNAs, and enzymes), or microorganism (e.g., viruses, bacteria, and cancer cells). A typical biosensor consists of three essential components: a sensitive biological element that recognizes a specific analyte and produces a signal, a signal transduction element that transforms one signal into another one, and a reading device that measures the signal.
Fluorescent biosensors have emerged as a powerful class of analytical tools owing to their high sensitivity and rapid response. Advances in new fluorophores, nanomaterials, and signal transduction strategies have significantly expanded the scope of fluorescent biosensors for detecting environmentally and biologically relevant targets, including ions, small molecules, biomacromolecules, pathogens, and living cells. These developments have positioned fluorescent biosensors at the forefront of chemical biology, biomedical diagnostics, environmental monitoring, and life science research. Fluorescent biosensors can be designed using organic dyes, fluorescent proteins, nanomaterials, and metal complexes. Signal transduction mechanisms commonly employed include photoinduced electron transfer (PET), Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET), intramolecular charge transfer (ICT), fluorescence quenching, and aggregation-induced fluorescence. Through rational molecular design and material engineering, fluorescent biosensors have been successfully applied in biosensing, bioimaging, cellular analysis, disease diagnosis, environmental sensing, and point-of-care testing.
This Special Issue aims to highlight recent advances in the design, mechanisms, and applications of fluorescent biosensors. Contributions covering innovative probe design, mechanistic insights, analytical performance optimization, and emerging applications are particularly encouraged. Original research articles, short communications, and review papers are all welcome.
Dr. Liming Huang
Guest Editor
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
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
- fluorescent biosensors
- fluorescence sensing
- bioimaging
- fluorescent probes
- PET
- FRET
- ratiometric fluorescence
- fluorescence quenching
- chemical and biological sensing
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