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Sensors and NanoSensors for Biomedical, Environmental and Food Monitoring Applications

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A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2019) | Viewed by 45257

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Dr. Monica Florescu

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Faculty of Medicine, Transilvania University of Brasov, 40268 Brasov, Romania
Interests: diagnostic and therapeutic biomarker investigation; laboratory medicine; novel clinical molecular diagnostic methods development
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Sensors and biosensors based on different detection methods (electric, electrochemical, optical, piezoelectric, thermal or even atomic and nuclear) have earned considerable interest in recent years, and they show great promise for a wide range of applications in biological research, medical analysis and diagnostics, environmental and food industry monitoring. Making use of the synergetic effects between nanotechnology, biomolecules, and different detection methods has enabled nano(bio)sensors development for faster detection and its reproducibility in a much better way.

We invite, for this “Sensors and NanoSensors for Biomedical, Environmental and Food Monitoring Applications” Special Issue, manuscripts dealing with different detection method-based sensors for the application fields mentioned above, while not being limited to these presented in the frame of the International Conference IC-ANMBES 2018, held in Brasov, Romania (https://sciforum.net/conference/icanmbes2018). Both original research and review articles are welcome.

Original research papers that describe the development, characterization/evaluation, simulations and utilization of different architecture (sensor, fixed, mobile) platforms for the detection of both (bio)physical signals and biological active or toxic compounds in complex samples with potential applications in medical analysis and diagnosis, environmental and food industry monitoring are of interest. The manuscripts can deal with the following topics (but are not limited to) with potential relevance to sensory detection:

physical detectors for (bio)signals,
microfluidics and point-of-care microdevices,
optical fibers,
mass-sensitive chips,
novel materials electrodes and surface functionalization strategies applications or
new concepts and fundamental studies.

Reviews should provide an up-to-date and critical overview of state-of-the-art of platforms and detection mechanisms, especially those used for (bio)sensing and nano(bio)sensing.

Please feel free to contact us and send us your suggestions that you would like to discuss beforehand. We look forward to and welcome your participation in this Special Issue.

Prof. Dr. Monica Florescu
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sensors is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Sensors
Nanosensors
Microfluidics
Point-of-care microdevices
Novel materials
Surface functionalization
Medical physics

Published Papers (9 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 6647 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Nanoparticle-Based Label-Free Sensor for Screening the Relative Antioxidant Capacity of Hydrosoluble Plant Extracts

by Melinda David, Adrian Şerban, Claudia V. Popa and Monica Florescu

Sensors 2019, 19(3), 590; https://doi.org/10.3390/s19030590 - 30 Jan 2019

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3279

Abstract

One of the most important aspects of the detection of antioxidant compounds is developing a fast screening method. The screening of the overall relative antioxidant capacity (RAC) of several Romanian hydrosoluble plant extracts is the focus of this work. This is important because of the presence of increasing levels of reactive oxygen species (such as H₂O₂) generates oxidative stress in the human body. The consequences are a large number of medical conditions that can be helped by a larger consumption of plant extracts as food supplements, which do not necessarily contain the specified antioxidant contents. By exploiting the catalytic properties of gold nanoparticles, a specific and sensitive nanoparticle-based label-free electrochemical sensor was developed, where the working parameters were optimized for RAC screening of hydrosoluble plant extracts. First, electrochemical measurements (cyclic voltammetry and amperometry) were used to characterize different nanoparticle-based sensors, revealing the best performance of gold nanoparticle-based sensors, obtaining a RAC of 98% for lavender extracts. The sensing principle is based on the quenching effect of antioxidants for H₂O₂ amperometric detection, where the decrease in electrical signal suggests an increasing antioxidant capacity. The obtained results were expressed in terms of ascorbic acid and Trolox equivalents in order to be able to correlate our results with classical methods like chemiluminescence and UV-Vis spectrophotometry, where a correlation coefficient of 0.907 was achieved, suggesting a good correlation between electrochemistry and spectrophotometry. Considering these results, the optimized gold nanoparticle-based label-free sensor can be used as a simple, rapid alternative towards classical methods for relative antioxidant capacity detection of hydrosoluble plant extracts. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensors and NanoSensors for Biomedical, Environmental and Food Monitoring Applications)

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8 pages, 817 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Real-Time Interferometric Refractive Index Change Measurement for the Direct Detection of Enzymatic Reactions and the Determination of Enzyme Kinetics

by Søren T. Jepsen, Thomas M. Jørgensen, Henrik S. Sørensen and Søren R. Kristensen

Sensors 2019, 19(3), 539; https://doi.org/10.3390/s19030539 - 28 Jan 2019

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3787

Abstract

Back scatter interferometry (BSI) is a sensitive method for detecting changes in the bulk refractive index of a solution in a microfluidic system. Here we demonstrate that BSI can be used to directly detect enzymatic reactions and, for the first time, derive kinetic parameters. While many methods in biomedical assays rely on detectable biproducts to produce a signal, direct detection is possible if the substrate or the product exert distinct differences in their specific refractive index so that the total refractive index changes during the enzymatic reaction. In this study, both the conversion of glucose to glucose-6-phosphate, catalyzed by hexokinase, and the conversion of adenosine-triphosphate to adenosine di-phosphate and mono-phosphate, catalyzed by apyrase, were monitored by BSI. When adding hexokinase to glucose solutions containing adenosine-triphosphate, the conversion can be directly followed by BSI, which shows the increasing refractive index and a final plateau corresponding to the particular concentration. From the initial reaction velocities, K_M was found to be 0.33 mM using Michaelis–Menten kinetics. The experiments with apyrase indicate that the refractive index also depends on the presence of various ions that must be taken into account when using this technique. This study clearly demonstrates that measuring changes in the refractive index can be used for the direct determination of substrate concentrations and enzyme kinetics. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensors and NanoSensors for Biomedical, Environmental and Food Monitoring Applications)

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10 pages, 2672 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A New Insight into Biospeckle Activity in Apple Tissues

by Christelle Abou Nader, Jean-Michel Tualle, Eric Tinet and Dominique Ettori

Sensors 2019, 19(3), 497; https://doi.org/10.3390/s19030497 - 25 Jan 2019

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3987

Abstract

The monitoring and characterization of agricultural products before harvest or during ripening, storage, and shelf life has recently been increasingly explored in the literature. The analysis of biospeckle activity has potential for the determination of the optimal harvest window, the monitoring of the fruit ripening process, and the detection of diseases and bruising. In this technique, the specimen is illuminated with coherent light and speckle intensity fluctuations are analyzed using diverse methodologies. Prior work shows that biospeckle activity is strongly correlated to physiological indexes conventionally used to evaluate fruit texture and composition. Here, we scrupulously investigate the biospeckle activity of Gala apple fruits during postharvest stages. We simulate realistic conditions for shelf-life monitoring, namely an unknown history of the fruit and storage in an uncontrolled atmosphere. Scattering spot images are acquired with multiple exposure times using a simple optical setup. The contrast, reflecting biospeckle activity, is computed after eliminating inhomogeneous zones. The results show, for the first time, speckle activity at short time scales. The retrieved correlations between speckle parameters and the ratio of apples’ firmness to their soluble solids content reveal significant links despite the unknown fruit’s origin, harvest date, and storage history. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensors and NanoSensors for Biomedical, Environmental and Food Monitoring Applications)

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22 pages, 20177 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Vital Sign Monitoring and Cardiac Triggering at 1.5 Tesla: A Practical Solution by an MR-Ballistocardiography Fiber-Optic Sensor

by Jan Nedoma, Marcel Fajkus, Radek Martinek and Homer Nazeran

Sensors 2019, 19(3), 470; https://doi.org/10.3390/s19030470 - 24 Jan 2019

Cited by 29 | Viewed by 5562

Abstract

This article presents a solution for continuous monitoring of both respiratory rate (RR) and heart rate (HR) inside Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) environments by a novel ballistocardiography (BCG) fiber-optic sensor. We designed and created a sensor based on the Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) probe encapsulated inside fiberglass (fiberglass is a composite material made up of glass fiber, fabric, and cured synthetic resin). Due to this, the encapsulation sensor is characterized by very small dimensions (30 × 10 × 0.8 mm) and low weight (2 g). We present original results of real MRI measurements (conventionally most used 1.5 T MR scanner) involving ten volunteers (six men and four women) by performing conventional electrocardiography (ECG) to measure the HR and using a Pneumatic Respiratory Transducer (PRT) for RR monitoring. The acquired sensor data were compared against real measurements using the objective Bland–Altman method, and the functionality of the sensor was validated (95.36% of the sensed values were within the ±1.96 SD range for the RR determination and 95.13% of the values were within the ±1.96 SD range for the HR determination) by this means. The accuracy of this sensor was further characterized by a relative error below 5% (4.64% for RR and 4.87% for HR measurements). The tests carried out in an MRI environment demonstrated that the presence of the FBG sensor in the MRI scanner does not affect the quality of this imaging modality. The results also confirmed the possibility of using the sensor for cardiac triggering at 1.5 T (for synchronization and gating of cardiovascular magnetic resonance) and for cardiac triggering when a Diffusion Weighted Imaging (DWI) is used. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensors and NanoSensors for Biomedical, Environmental and Food Monitoring Applications)

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16 pages, 10912 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Enlargement of Gold Nanoparticles for Sensitive Immunochromatographic Diagnostics of Potato Brown Rot

by Shyatesa C. Razo, Natalia A. Panferova, Vasily G. Panferov, Irina V. Safenkova, Natalia V. Drenova, Yuri A. Varitsev, Anatoly V. Zherdev, Elena N. Pakina and Boris B. Dzantiev

Sensors 2019, 19(1), 153; https://doi.org/10.3390/s19010153 - 04 Jan 2019

Cited by 34 | Viewed by 5147

Abstract

Lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) is a convenient tool for rapid field-based control of various bacterial targets. However, for many applications, the detection limits obtained by LFIA are not sufficient. In this paper, we propose enlarging gold nanoparticles’ (GNPs) size to develop a sensitive lateral flow immunoassay to detect Ralstonia solanacearum. This bacterium is a quarantine organism that causes potato brown rot. We fabricated lateral flow test strips using gold nanoparticles (17.4 ± 1.0 nm) as a label and their conjugates with antibodies specific to R. solanacearum. We proposed a signal enhancement in the test strips’ test zone due to the tetrachloroauric (III) anion reduction on the GNP surface, and the increase in size of the gold nanoparticles on the test strips was approximately up to 100 nm, as confirmed by scanning electron microscopy. Overall, the gold enhancement approach decreased the detection limit of R. solanacearum by 33 times, to as low as 3 × 10⁴ cells∙mL^–1 in the potato tuber extract. The achieved detection limit allows the diagnosis of latent infection in potato tubers. The developed approach based on gold enhancement does not complicate analyses and requires only 3 min. The developed assay together with the sample preparation and gold enlargement requires 15 min. Thus, the developed approach is promising for the development of lateral flow test strips and their subsequent introduction into diagnostic practice. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensors and NanoSensors for Biomedical, Environmental and Food Monitoring Applications)

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13 pages, 5737 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Suppression Technique of HeLa Cell Proliferation Using Ultrasonic Power Amplifiers Integrated with a Series-Diode Linearizer

by Se-woon Choe and Hojong Choi

Sensors 2018, 18(12), 4248; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18124248 - 03 Dec 2018

Cited by 23 | Viewed by 3167

Abstract

A series-diode linearizer scheme is developed, which can possibly generate higher voltage signals. To verify our proposed concept, ultrasonic power amplifiers with and without the linearizer were tested for HeLa cells proliferation in vitro. In general, ultrasonic stimulus initiates the process of cavitation which can cause cell lysis and disruption of cell attachment. The cavitation can also induce formation of free radicals so that a rigid membrane of malignant cancer cells have increased sensitivity to ultrasonic stimulus. The cell density of the control group increased up to almost 100% on Day 3. However, cell densities of the experimental group when using an isolated ultrasonic power amplifier, and ultrasonic power amplifiers integrated with the linearizer at 1 V and 5 V DC (direct current) bias could be suppressed more than that when using an ultrasonic power amplifier (90.7 ± 1.2%, 75.8 ± 3.5%, and 68.1 ± 1.1%, respectively). Additionally, the proliferation suppressing ratios of each experimental group confirmed that the cell density decrements of the experimental groups exhibited statistical significance compared to the control group (ultrasonic power amplifier = 8.87%, ultrasonic power amplifier with 1 V biased linearizer = 23.87%, and ultrasonic power amplifier with 5 V biased linearizer = 31.56%). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensors and NanoSensors for Biomedical, Environmental and Food Monitoring Applications)

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13 pages, 2343 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Designing Efficient Low-Cost Paper-Based Sensing Plasmonic Nanoplatforms

by Laurentiu Susu, Andreea Campu, Ana Maria Craciun, Adriana Vulpoi, Simion Astilean and Monica Focsan

Sensors 2018, 18(9), 3035; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18093035 - 11 Sep 2018

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 4563

Abstract

Paper-based platforms can be a promising choice as portable sensors due to their low-cost and facile fabrication, ease of use, high sensitivity, specificity and flexibility. By combining the qualities of these 3D platforms with the optical properties of gold nanoparticles, it is possible to create efficient nanodevices with desired biosensing functionalities. In this work, we propose a new plasmonic paper-based dual localized surface plasmon resonance–surface-enhanced Raman scattering (LSPR-SERS) nanoplatform with improved detection abilities in terms of high sensitivity, uniformity and reproducibility. Specifically, colloidal gold nanorods (GNRs) with a well-controlled plasmonic response were firstly synthesized and validated as efficient dual LSPR-SERS nanosensors in solution using the p-aminothiophenol (p-ATP) analyte. GNRs were then efficiently immobilized onto the paper via the immersion approach, thus obtaining plasmonic nanoplatforms with a modulated LSPR response. The successful deposition of the nanoparticles onto the cellulose fibers was confirmed by LSPR measurements, which demonstrate the preserved plasmonic response after immobilization, as well as by dark-field microscopy and scanning electron microscopy investigations, which confirm their uniform distribution. Finally, a limit of detection for p-ATP as low as 10⁻¹² M has been achieved by our developed SERS-based paper nanoplatform, proving that our optimized plasmonic paper-based biosensing design could be further considered as an excellent candidate for miniaturized biomedical applications. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensors and NanoSensors for Biomedical, Environmental and Food Monitoring Applications)

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18 pages, 1316 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Immunogold Nanoparticles for Rapid Plasmonic Detection of C. sakazakii

by Mohamed A. Aly, Konrad J. Domig, Wolfgang Kneifel and Erik Reimhult

Sensors 2018, 18(7), 2028; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18072028 - 25 Jun 2018

Cited by 18 | Viewed by 6324

Abstract

Cronobacter sakazakii is a foodborne pathogen that can cause a rare, septicemia, life-threatening meningitis, and necrotizing enterocolitis in infants. In general, standard methods for pathogen detection rely on culture, plating, colony counting and polymerase chain reaction DNA-sequencing for identification, which are time, equipment and skill demanding. Recently, nanoparticle- and surface-based immunoassays have increasingly been explored for pathogen detection. We investigate the functionalization of gold nanoparticles optimized for irreversible and specific binding to C. sakazakii and their use for spectroscopic detection of the pathogen. We demonstrate how 40-nm gold nanoparticles grafted with a poly(ethylene glycol) brush and functionalized with polyclonal antibodies raised against C. sakazakii can be used to specifically target C. sakazakii. The strong extinction peak of the Au nanoparticle plasmon polariton resonance in the optical range is used as a label for detection of the pathogens. Individual binding of the nanoparticles to the C. sakazakii surface is also verified by transmission electron microscopy. We show that a high degree of surface functionalization with anti-C. sakazakii optimizes the detection and leads to a detection limit as low as 10 CFU/mL within 2 h using a simple cuvette-based UV-Vis spectrometric readout that has great potential for further optimization. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensors and NanoSensors for Biomedical, Environmental and Food Monitoring Applications)

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Review

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16 pages, 1504 KiB

Open AccessReview

Recent Developments in Enzyme, DNA and Immuno-Based Biosensors

by Melis Asal, Özlem Özen, Mert Şahinler and İlker Polatoğlu

Sensors 2018, 18(6), 1924; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18061924 - 13 Jun 2018

Cited by 92 | Viewed by 8343

Abstract

Novel sensitive, rapid and economical biosensors are being developed in a wide range of medical environmental and food applications. In this paper, we review some of the main advances in the field over the past few years by discussing recent studies from literature. A biosensor, which is defined as an analytical device consisting of a biomolecule, a transducer and an output system, can be categorized according to the type of the incorporated biomolecule. The biomolecules can be enzymes, antibodies, ssDNA, organelles, cells etc. The main biosensor categories classified according to the biomolecules are enzymatic biosensors, immunosensors and DNA-based biosensors. These sensors can measure analytes produced or reduced during reactions at lower costs compared to the conventional detection techniques. Numerous types of biosensor studies conducted over the last decade have been explored here to reveal their key applications in medical, environmental and food industries which provide comprehensive perspective to the readers. Overviews of the working principles and applications of the reviewed sensors are also summarized. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensors and NanoSensors for Biomedical, Environmental and Food Monitoring Applications)

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