[Mol. Sys. Des. Eng.] Nanomaterials for Molecular Signal Amplification in Electrochemical Nucleic Acid Biosensing: Recent Advances and Future Prospects for Point-of-care Diagnostics
We review nanomaterial design concept for electrochemical nucleis acid biosensors, following the invitation for the special issue of "Emerging Investigators".
With the increasing importance of personalized medicine and genomics, biosensors have receivedconsiderable attention in various fields, including clinical diagnostics, food inspection and environmentalmonitoring. In particular, advances in electrochemical biosensing technologies for clinical diagnostics pavethe way for ultrasensitive detection of nucleic acid sequences using miniaturized and low-cost devicessuitable for point-of-use applications. This account reviews three major amplification strategies utilizingnanomaterials as (i)‘nanocatalysts’ in electrocatalysis, (ii) redox active reporters (‘nanoreporters’) and (iii)cargos for redox markers (‘nanocarriers’). In addition, and motivated by the need for reproducible androbust sensing, the integration of biosensors with microfluidic tools, including paper-based devices, are also covered.