Functional Polymers for Biosensing Applications

Dear Colleagues,

Recent progress in micro-fabrication techniques and microarray technologies have led to the development of miniaturized and fully integrated solid-phase analytical devices that can perform entire experiments, studies of complex cellular processes, high-throughput screening, and parallel diagnostic detection. They imply a scaling down of the entire analytical process (time, sample, reagent volumes, costs, etc.) while maintaining very high sensitivity. Considering their tiny dimensions, the aforementioned surfaces must be perfectly designed and controlled to maximize probe immobilization and target-binding efficiency, to reduce background noise and prevent non-specific molecular interaction.

It is widely recognized that, among the different methods employed to immobilize biomolecules on the surface of biosensors, polymers are the best choice since they allow the distribution of immobilization points within their thickness, producing better signal-to-noise ratios, and wider dynamic ranges through a unique combination of characteristics that include high probe loading capacity and low non-specific binding.

This Special Issue will highlight original articles and reviews that describe the synthesis and characterization of functional polymers and their application to biosensors for various biomedical applications including the study of biological processes, biomolecules interactions, biomarker discovery, molecular diagnosis, development of serological assays, genotyping, and detection of DNA mutations.

Dr. Laura Sola
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. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2700 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.