5 Things to Know About the Usage of Spectrometric Biosensors

While a broad range of analytical tools can be employed in such procedures, biosensors are increasingly becoming a popular tool used in many applications.

The best part about them is that most biosensors are portable and easy to use. Moreover, they also have a high degree of specificity and sensitivity compared to their traditional alternatives, thus reducing the error margin in biological experiments. Spectrometric biosensors are a good example of biosensors that are increasingly gaining popularity these days in the said applications. Below is a brief overview of five things you should know about spectrometric biosensors and their usage.

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1. They Utilize Spectrometry

By definition, the general study of how matter interacts with electromagnetic waves is referred to as spectrometry. On the other hand, spectrophotometry refers to the quantitative measurement of light spectra, intensity, and how light behaves as it passes through a material or sample of interest. Looking at how Spectroscopy is defined, reflection, absorption, and transmission are some of the commonly assessed properties in spectrophotometric analyses. To acquire these measurements, spectrometric biosensors are used. They are a type of optical biosensors, which will be defined later in this article.

2. Various Types of Spectrometric Biosensors

Compared to other types of biosensors, spectrometric biosensors are exceedingly gaining popularity these days. The advancements of spectroscopy and biosensor technologies have seen the birth of a wide range of these biosensors over the past few years. Some of the spectrometric biosensor options available in the industry today include:

1. Conventional fluorescence spectroscopy
2. Imaging spectrometric biosensors
3. Luminescence spectrometric biosensors
4. Infrared (IR) spectroscopy biosensors
5. Absorption spectroscopy biosensors
6. Evanescent wave spectroscopy biosensors
7. Fiber optic spectroscopy biosensors
8. Raman Spectrometers
9. Among others

3. Raman Spectrometers 

Among these, Raman Spectrometers are perhaps the most popularly used options in spectrometric analysis. Virtually similar to NIR spectrometers, Raman NIR spectrometers are commonly used in clinical diagnostics. The main difference is that for Raman NIR spectroscopy, the inelastic scattering process is employed while infrared spectroscopy relies on absorption processes. As a result, Raman spectrometers are used to quantify vibrations resulting from polarizability changes, whereas infrared spectrometers measure vibrations resulting from dipole moment changes. Since IR spectroscopy involves high water absorbance, it may not be as ideal as Raman spectroscopy when working with aqueous solutions.

4. They Have Many Applications

As earlier mentioned, spectrometric biosensors are indispensable tools with many applications across industries. Many of them are used in creating assays to help in disease detection, treatment monitoring, and other public health applications. As advancements are seen in biotechnology and microelectronic fields, highly sophisticated biosensor systems are being developed. In most cases, the sample analytes range from organic compounds to gases, ions, and even bacteria. There is ongoing research on how spectrometric biosensors can help detect viral infections like SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19 from samples. Many of these devices are also utilized in scientific research, academic studies, manufacturing, biomedical research, and industrial research.

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They are especially ideal for use in addressing problems that necessitate speed, high sensitivity, and a high level of accuracy. Developed a few years back, the Mid-IR spectroscopy biosensor is a good example of such a sensor. In a nutshell, some common applications of spectrometric biosensors include:

1. Disease screening
2. Healthcare monitoring
3. Clinical diagnosis and analysis
4. Veterinary applications
5. Agricultural applications
6. Industrial monitoring and processing
7. Environmental pollution control

5. Other Types of Biosensors 

Apart from spectrometry-based biosensors, there are many other types of biosensors used for various bio-analytical purposes. Along with what they do, some of these include the following:

1. Magnetic Biosensors - Used to quantify changes in the magnetic properties of an analyte 
2. Acoustic Biosensors - They measure changes in the physical properties of a sample
3. Thermometric Biosensors - They detect and temperature changes of the solution with the analyte
4. Immunosensors - Used for measuring and tracking changes in immunochemical reactions 
5. Electrochemical Biosensors - They react with an analyte in a sample solution to produce an electrical signal 
6. Optical Biosensors - Including spectrophotometric and colorimetric variants, these biosensors are typically used in measuring how a biorecognition sensing element interacts with an optical field. Respectively, spectrophotometric and colorimetric biosensors measure light intensity and light adsorption changes. 

The field of spectroscopy has advanced greatly over the past few years. The available tools and techniques allow for more accuracy in data gathering and implementation during scientific and biomedical research analysis. The above are just a few things you should know about spectrometric biosensors and their applications.

Micah Soto

Update 08 April 2021