BIOLOGY Volume 2 - A Guide to General Biology - 2004

12. MICROBIOLOGY AND BIOTECHNOLOGY

12.17. Biosensors

12.17.3. Medical Applications

Biosensors are currently finding widespread application in medicine. Enzymes are increasingly used for routine, automated analysis of metabolites, drugs, and Hormones in human Body Fluids, which is particularly essential for clinical Diagnostics. The Use of biosensors minimizes the risk of diagnostic errors and reduces costs due to their widespread availability and affordability. Biosensor-based diagnostics allow general practitioners to perform tests directly in their offices without relying on laboratory services. This saves money and eliminates The Need for patients to make a return visit to receive a Diagnosis, while also enabling earlier Treatment initiation. Another advantage is that the risk of confusing, losing, or contaminating a sample is significantly reduced—a factor of critical importance when screening athletes for doping substances. Police officers and medical personnel already utilize specialized kits to detect trace amounts of drugs in human Blood.

Home-use diagnostic kits will likely become available in the near future, as many individuals are keen to have access to such devices. However, this trend should be approached with great caution, especially when dealing with serious medical conditions.

Biosensors capable of monitoring The Emergence of dangerous metabolites during surgical Procedures are already in operational use. Such monitoring of metabolite levels could become routine with the advent of miniature implants capable of immediately correcting physiological shifts upon detection. Advanced, highly sensitive, and miniaturized biosensors can be developed using "biochips." Just as silicon microchips revolutionized computing by drastically reducing device size, replacing silicon with organic semiconductor molecules will enable even further miniaturization of biosensors. Electrical signals will be able to travel along these molecules, allowing for electronic circuits only a single molecule wide. Biochips must be small enough to be implanted directly into The Human Body, paving the way for revolutionary devices such as artificial Sensory Organs and cardiac pacemakers.