Biosensors: Fundamentals and Applications (1987-08-06)

A biosensor is a device incorporating a biological sensing element either intimately connected to or integrated within a physical transducer. Most commonly, the aim is to produce a signal proportional in strength or frequency to the concentration of a chemical or biochemical to which the biological element reacts. The marriage of these two disciplines promises to revolutionize approaches to many analytical problems, providing a powerful technology with the specificity and sensitivity of biological systems and the computing capabilities of the microprocessor. Tests that previously took days before a result was available and required elaborate laboratories may now be possible using extremely cheap and simple devices in the home. The implications for monitoring personal health and fitness, the food we eat and the environment we live in are enormous, just as they are for the industries and health services which currently maintain large analytical facilities. This is the first substantial and comprehensive book to be published in this field. It has many contributors, chosen to reflect the spread of disciplines from which the new techniques have emerged as well as those to which they may be applied and those which will be required to develop the devices. As is to be expected in a growing field, there are differences in opinion and approach; they are expounded here by their main proponents.