Field effect transistor nanobiosensors: State-of-the-art and key challenges as point of care testing devices

The existing health care systems focus on treating diseases rather than preventing them. Patients are generally not tested unless physiological symptoms are appeared. When they do get tested, the results often take several days and can be inconclusive if the disease is at an early stage. In order to facilitate the diagnostics process and make tests more readily available for patients, the concept of “point of care testing” (POCT) has been brought up and developed in recent years. Field effect transistors (FET) using nanomaterial as a kind of biosensors have shown great characteristics for detection of a wide range of biomolecules due to their label-free, real time and ultrasensitive properties. In this paper, first of all, the working principles of such devices and recent developments in fabrication methods and surface functionalization are stated, and then some current research trends in field-effect transistor nanobiosensors are highlighted. Eventually key advantages and challenges of FET-based nanobiosensors as POCT devices are discussed as well.