Trends in miniaturized biosensors for point-of-care testing

The popularization of point-of-care (POC) testing is of great importance in healthcare diagnostics and other fields in the developing world, especially in resource-limited settings. To date, there are still great challenges in the development of simple, quick, affordable, yet highly effective and selective biosensors for POC testing. To meet the increasing need for POC testing, researchers need to consider biosensor miniaturization. In this review, we focus on recent advances in miniaturized biosensors for POC testing. We first review the miniaturization strategies, including handheld instruments and microfluidics-assisted miniaturized biosensing systems. Recent progress in recognition biosensing interactions for miniaturized biosensing systems is then summarized. We further describe how POC testing applications can be realized based on developments in integration, automation and multiplexing. Finally, the future prospects and remaining challenges of miniaturized biosensors for POC testing are discussed.