Table of Contents
What is Biosensor?
Biosensor is a analytical device that detects changes in biological process. The term “biosensor” is short for “biological sensor.”
I have shown below the biosensor device.
The device is made up of a transducer and a biological element that may be an enzyme, an antibody or a nucleic acid. The bio elements interacts with the analytics being tested and the biological response is converted into an electrical signal by the transducer.
“A chemical sensing device in which a biologically derived recognition is coupled to a transducer, to allow the quantitative development of some complex biochemical parameter.”
Structure of Biosensor
The block diagram of the biosensor consists of two segments namely transducer and electrical signal.
Transducer: It is a physical component which amplifies the biochemical signal received from detector, alters the resulting signal into electrical and displays in an attainable way.
Electrical signal: It is the associated part which consists of Signal Conditioning Unit, a Processor or Micro-controller. Electrochemical sensors are able to detect various biomolecules in the human body such as glucose, cholesterol, uric acid, lactate, DNA, hemoglobin, blood ketones, and others .
Generally, biosensors can be classified on the basis of three schemes. According to the different receptor types, biosensors can be divided into Biocatalytic biosensor, immunological biosensor and nucleic acid biosensor.
Principles of Biosensor
The desired biological material is usually in the form of an enzyme. By a process known as Electro enzymatic approach, which is a chemical process of converting the enzymes into corresponding electrical signals (usually current) with the help of a transducer.
One of the commonly used Biological response is the oxidation of the enzyme. Oxidation acts as a catalyst and alters the pH of the biological material. The change in pH will directly affect the current carrying capacity of the enzyme, which is once again, in direct relation to the enzyme being measured.
Applications of Biosensor
- Food analysis
- Drug development
- Medical diagnosis
- Drug Discovery
- Study of Biomolecules & their interaction