Biotechnology and Bioinformatics (1+1)

6.5.4. Applications

There are many potential applications of biosensor s of various types. The main requirements for a biosensor approach to be valuable in terms of research and commercial applications are the identification of a target molecule, availability of a suitable biological recognition element, and the potential for disposable portable detection systems to be preferred to sensitive laboratory-based techniques in some situations. Some examples are given below:

• Glucose monitoring in diabetes patients
• Environmental applications (the detection of pesticides and river water contaminants)
• Detection of pathogens
• Determining levels of toxic substances before and after bioremediation
• Detection and determining of organophosphate
• Routine analytical measurement of folic acid , biotin , vitamin B12 and pantothenic acid as an alternative to microbiological assay
• Determination of drug residues in food, such as antibiotics and growth promoters , particularly meat and honey.
• Drug discovery and evaluation of biological activity of new compounds.
• Detection of toxic metabolites such as mycotoxins.