Origami-Inspired Biosensors: Exploring Diverse Applications and Techniques for Shape-Changing Sensor Platforms

Biosensors are widely used across industries such as healthcare, food safety, and environmental monitoring, offering high stability and sensitivity compared to conventional methods. Recently, origami—the art of folding 2D structures into 3D forms—has emerged as a valuable approach in biosensor development, enabling the creation of shape-changing devices. These origami-based biosensors are particularly useful in precision medicine, rapid diagnostics, and resource-limited settings, offering affordable, highly precise, and portable solutions with diverse applications. Paper and biological substrates like DNA have been integrated with origami techniques to develop biosensors with enhanced functionality. The incorporation of aptamer origami into both paper and DNA biosensors further increases sensitivity and specificity for target detection. The concept of paper-based origami biosensors originated from using paper as a platform for biological assays, leading to significant advancements in design and functionality. These devices employ folding techniques to create channels and wells for manipulating samples and detecting target molecules through reactions with specific reagents. Similarly, DNA origami, introduced in 2006, has revolutionized biosensors by enabling the creation of precise molecular systems with tunable properties. Paper-based and DNA origami biosensors have immense potential to transform biosensing technologies in healthcare, food safety, and environmental monitoring. This review explores diverse origami-based biosensor techniques and their applications, including the role of aptamer origami in paper and DNA biosensors.