Transducing Biology into Signals: A Chemist&#039;s Handbook to the Principles, Materials, and Innovations Driving the Point-of-Care Biosensing Revolution

Alshahrani, Ali Mushabbab; Alyamani, Abdullah Mohammed; Alkhuraym, Yousef Yahya; Alharthi, Ahmad Hassan; Raea, Salem Mohammad; Alyamy, Shafi Marzoug; Alzahrani, Abdullah Ahmed; Alharbi, Abdulaziz Hassan; Alzahrani, Ali Mohammed; Alzahrani, Abdullah Hussain; Alshehri, Mohammed Ahmed; Alghofaily, Faisal Mohammed; Almulhim, Lujain Yousef; Almulhim, Johara Abdullah; Alhussain, Jawaher Khalid; Alduhailan, Hattan Nabil; Almulhim, Jawaher Ibrahim; Almakhaita, Muna Ali

doi:10.21608/ejchem.2025.418666.12279

Transducing Biology into Signals: A Chemist's Handbook to the Principles, Materials, and Innovations Driving the Point-of-Care Biosensing Revolution

Articles in Press

Document Type : Review Articles

Authors

Ministry of National Guard, Saudi Arabia

10.21608/ejchem.2025.418666.12279

Abstract

The paradigm in medical diagnostics is being revolutionized from centralized labs to decentralized, point-of-care (POC) testing driven by the unstoppable pace of biosensor technology. From the chemist's perspective, a biosensor is an advanced analysis tool that incorporates a biological recognition component and a physicochemical transducer to produce a quantifiable signal that is proportional to the concentration of a target analyte. The present review provides a thorough investigation of the inherent chemical principles that underlie modern POC biosensors, with a specific focus on electrochemical, optical, and piezoelectric transduction mechanisms. We elaborate on how such principles are engineered into robust, fast, and inexpensive diagnostic tests for chronic conditions (e.g., blood glucose monitoring), acute conditions (e.g., cardiac biomarkers), and infectious diseases (e.g., malaria, dengue). The review estimates the interface between the biological recognition event—enzymatic, immunochemical, or nucleic acid-based—and the signal transduction event that ensues, highlighting improvement in nanomaterials, microfluidics, and surface chemistry that enhance sensitivity, specificity, and stability. Furthermore, we analyze the unprecedented potential of such biosensors to be utilized in primary care environments, including low-resource environments, and for addressing the continuing issues related to manufacturing, approval, reduction of user errors, and integration into digital health environments. The intersection of chemistry, materials science, and bioengineering holds promise to enable a new era of "sample-in-answer-out" POC devices that will equalize access to high-quality diagnostic information and transform personalized and preventative healthcare.

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