Alginate based ratio-metric biosensors for environmental monitoring

Abstract

Natural systems are formed with numerous compartmentalized process. Even the functioning of such a system is highly dependent on the completion of these innumerable processes. These processes show some peculiar constituents which are in general addressed as biomarkers in the biological context. Several macro and micro-molecules play an essential role in systems of the organism both inside and in the environment. Simultaneously, few other molecules currently found in the environment may be non-essential for living systems and may pose toxicity to the environment, e.g., pesticides, heavy metals, organic pollutants, food adulterants. Biomarkers have become crucial for monitoring such critical processes in an everyday procession, such as blood sugar estimation in healthcare, particulate matter estimation in air or moisture content estimation for crop ripening. Biomarkers are one of the assured paths to reflect progress in biological procedures. Biomarkers have also become essential for determining any harmful effect under development that disrupts the normalcy in biological systems such as kidney malfunction due to toxicity, would show abnormal levels of critical components in urine than the normal range. Biomarkers can be assessed and quantified by specialized interaction according to their physicochemical characteristics, such as a change in pH, electrical properties, formation of a chromogenic complex, or fluorescence like optical properties (Figure 1). With a surge in discoveries and innovations associated with science and technology, we find more advancement towards portability, miniaturization, and real-time measurements. Sensors are one of the focused approaches towards such goals. However, biosensors are relatively the latest and more dynamic setups with functional elements from biological origin (Turner, 2013).