Biosensor A biosensor is an analytical device for the detection of an analyte that combines a biological component with a physicochemical detector

component. It consists of 3 parts: the sensitive biological element (biological material (e.g. tissue, microorganisms, organelles, cell receptors, enzymes, antibodies, nucleic acids, etc.), a biologically derived material or biomimic) he sensitive elements can be created by biological engineering. the transducer or the detector element (wor!s in a physicochemical way" optical, piezoelectric, electrochemical, etc.) that transforms the signal resulting from the interaction of the analyte with the biological element into another signal (i.e., transducers) that can be more easily measured and #uantified" associated electronics or signal processors that are primarily responsible for the display of the results in a user$friendly way. his sometimes accounts for the most e%pensive part of the sensor device, however it is possible to generate a user friendly display that includes transducer and sensitive element(see &olographic 'ensor).

A common e%ample of a commercial biosensor is the blood glucose biosensor, which uses the enzyme glucose o%idase to brea! blood glucose down. In doing so it first o%idizes glucose and uses two electrons to reduce the (A) (a component of the enzyme) to (A)&*. his in turn is o%idized by the electrode (accepting two electrons from the electrode) in a number of steps. he resulting current is a measure of the concentration of glucose. In this case, the electrode is the transducer and the enzyme is the biologically active component. +ecently, arrays of many different detector molecules have been applied in so called electronic nose devices, where the pattern of response from the detectors is used to fingerprint a substance. In the ,asp &ound odor$detector, the mechanical element is a video camera and the biological element is five parasitic wasps who have been conditioned to swarm in response to the presence of a specific chemical. -urrent commercial electronic noses, however, do not use biological elements. A canary in a cage, as used by miners to warn of gas, could be considered a biosensor. .any of today/s biosensor applications are similar, in that they use organisms which respond to to%ic substances at a much lower concentrations than humans can detect to warn of the presence of the to%in. 'uch devices can be used in environmental monitoring, trace gas detection and in water treatment facilities. Applications 0lucose monitoring in diabetes patients historical market driver 1ther medical health related targets 2nvironmental applications e.g. the detection of pesticides and river water contaminants +emote sensing of airborne bacteria e.g. in counter$bioterrorist activities )etection of pathogen. )etermining levels of to%ic substances before and after bioremediation )etection and determining of organophosphate +outine analytical measurement of folic acid, biotin, vitamin 34* and pantothenic acid as an alternative to microbiological assay . )etermination of drug residues in food, such as antibiotics and growth promoters, particularly meat and honey. )rug discovery and evaluation of biological activity of new compounds.

5rotein engineering in biosensors )etection of to%ic metabolites such as mycoto%ins .

Types of Biosensors here are different types of biosensors, which have different applications. hese are listed below. 4. -alorimetric 3iosensors *. 5otentiometric 3iosensors 3. Amperometric 3iosensors 6. 1ptical 3iosensors 7. hermometric 3iosensors Thermometric Biosensors: hermometry is a technology which is used to measure the temperature. here are various ways to measure the temperature such as optical, mechanical and electrical techni#ue. hermometric biosensors are constructed by combining enzymes with temperature sensors. ,hen the analyte is e%posed to the enzyme, the heat of reaction of the enzyme is measured and is calibrated against the analyte concentration. 8ses and applications of hermometric biosensors 4. to analyze the enzyme activities *. used to analyze the activity of endocrine glands 3. o monitor the endocrine$disrupting compounds (2)-s) in the environment. Optical biosensors: 1ptical biosensors are analytical devices comprising optical element and biological recognition molecule. 1ptical biosensors can be used to detect the light produced by chemical reactions. According to the optical configuration, optical sensors have classified into two modes. ,hen light is reflected at an optical interface where there is a change of refractive inde%, there is a decay of energy from the point of reflection into the surrounding medium. he resultant changes of luminescence, absorption or fluorescence can hence be determined. ,hen the glass surface of the biosensor is coated with a thin layer of metal (silver, gold), the intensity of the resonance angle changes depending on the concentration of the medium in which electrode is immersed. his phenomenon is called the surface plasma resonance ('5+). 8ses and applications of optical biosensors 4. screening of biological products *. monitoring of protein purification 3. analysis of chemical and biological inhibitors Amperometric biosensors: Amperometric biosensors are type of biosensors which e%ploit potential difference between two electrodes to analyze the process. Potentiometric biosensors: 5otentiometric biosensors ma!e use of ion$selective electrodes in order to transduce the biological reaction into an electrical signal. In the simplest terms this consists of an immobilized enzyme membrane surrounding the probe from a p&$meter, where the catalyzed reaction generates or absorbs hydrogen ions. he reaction occurring ne%t to the thin sensing glass membrane causes a change in p& which may be read directly from the p&$meter/s display.

ypical of the use of such electrodes is that the electrical potential is determined at very high impedance allowing effectively zero current flow and causing no interference with the reaction.