Biosensingmicrosystems: fast, label-free, real-time clinical testing

Integration of highly sensitive photonic biosensors and microfluidic technologies provide new possibilities for molecular diagnostics. Most contemporary clinical diagnostic tests are based on time-consuming, expensive, and sophisticated techniques performed by specialized technicians in laboratory environments. Further-more, these techniques typically require labeling of the samples with fluorescent or radioactive markers. Given the complexity of these procedures, there is an urgent need for methods that can provide fast, simple, and cost-effective analytical testing. Advances in micro- and nanobiosensors offer the possibility of diagnostic tools with increased sensitivity, specificity, and relia-bility for in vivo and in vitro analytical applications. These sen-sors also afford the possibility of taking different measurements in parallel and integrating several analytical steps, from sample preparation to detection, into a single miniaturized device (i.e.