Enzyme and other biosensors: evolution of a technology

Since 1962, when the first enzyme electrode was reported, biosensors have been the focus of intensive research and have captured the interest and imagination of both the wider scientific and lay communities. They have a wide potential applicability encompassing both biomedical and industrial areas and offer a unique route to simplified, reagentless analysis. Financial savings in analysis are an important motivation force for biosensor development; this is no more so than in medical diagnostics, where, especially in the West and Japan, an upward demand for biomedical testing has contributed to escalating health care costs. More recently, it has been recognised that with biosensor based monitoring of biotechnological processes used in the food and drink industries, a substantial enhancement in efficiency is possible.<>