Digital Printing and Functionalization of Surfaces for Biosensing Applications

The successful development of biosensors is a result of a combination of technological achievements from various disciplines. A prerequisite for the creation of a successful biosensor is the placement of the biomolecules in specific locations with high resolution, on the sensor substrate, and the immobilization of the biomolecules with techniques that are able to ensure the bioactivity of the biomaterials while at the same time guarantee their attachment to the sensor surface for a desirable period of time. Furthermore, the future of biosensors depicts the need of development of new generation of biosensors with improved performance, increased sensitivity and selectivity while being able to monitor the results in real time and detect multiple analytes with the same sensor simultaneously. To satisfy those high expectations, the scientific community develops techniques to improve the electronic part and the signal of the biosensor device while also various techniques are investigated for the digital printing and functionalization of the sensor surface with the bio materials. To this end, this review tutorial focuses on direct write bioprinting techniques that have been used extensively for the printing of the biomaterials on various type of surfaces including sensor devices. We review the recent advancements of the techniques, in the field of biosensor development and explore their potential to be used for the creation of an all printed device rather than techniques used only for spotting biomaterials. Such advancements are expected to expand the biosensor availability and lower the cost while having a high impact to multiple disciplines.