Optical biosensors for the detection of human immunodeficiency virus

Abstract Optical biosensors are small diagnostic devices with a biorecognition element linked to a transducer system, which produces an optical signal relative to the analyte concentration. Biorecognition elements are biological substances such as tissues, cells, nucleic acids, antigens, antibodies, and enzymes. They offer a few benefits over conventional analytical techniques owing to their fast detection abilities, high sensitivity, real time analysis, specificity, portability, and cost effectiveness. These characteristics enable optical biosensors to operate efficiently in fields like clinical diagnostics and healthcare, environmental analysis and monitoring as well as biotechnological industry. In the current study, home-built optical biosensor systems; localized surface plasmon resonance and transmission spectroscopy were used to detect HIV. The findings demonstrated that the virus was detected in the presence of the anti-HIV-1 gp120 antibody on the surface of a gold coated sensor chip and photonic crystal sensor chip as shown by the change in transmittance intensity and wavelength shift thus differentiating between the sample with the virus and the one without the virus. These outcomes will contribute towards the development of a multiplex optical biosensing device for the detection of viral infection and viral load as point of care diagnostic platforms for use in resource limited settings.