Advanced Biosensing of Natural Bioactive Compounds

Dear Colleagues,

Natural bioactive compounds and drug discovery are important research topics that have been receiving much attention. Live organisms produce countless compounds that result from their inumerous metabolic pathways. Bioactive compounds may have medical and pharmaceutical character by promoting health and healing and acting in specific pathways of the target organism but may also target deleterous organisms, acting in, for example, an anti-bacterial, anti-virus, anti-parasitic, anti-biofouling, anti-biofilm, and anti-bloom capacity by killing, weakening, or repelling them. Bioactive compounds also include those that cause harmful effects, as in the case of toxins.

Drug discovery and screening of bioactive compounds can be boosted by recent advances in biosensing technologies, benefiting particularly from the sensitivity and specificity demonstrated by advanced biosensor devices. These innovative analytical tools are getting progressively more cost-effective and portable, fulfilling the demands of the several stages of the drug discovery process. This Special Issue will highlight the progress in the design and use of biosensors for the following:

1) Detection, quantification, and concentration of bioactive natural compounds in the processes of drug discovery, including screening and high-throughput (HTP) screening of bioactivity in extracts and fractions of organisms;

2) Elucidation of the molecular mode of action of isolated compounds; and

3) Detection of bioative compounds in the environment, namely toxins and other relevant allellopatic compounds important to humans and to understanding ecological phenomena.

Such advanced biosensing technology covers the use of aptamers, antibodies, enzymes, cells, and even biomimetic methodologies, such as molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs), using new nanobiomaterials with enhanced properties and including on-site sensing in real-time.

Dr. Isabel Cristina Oliveira González Cunha
Dr. Manuela Faria Frasco
Prof. Dr. Maria Goreti Ferreira Sales
Prof. Dr. Vitor Manuel Oliveira Vasconcelos
Guest Editors

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