Clinical diagnosis has always been dependent on the
efficient immobilization of biomolecules in solid matrices with
preserved activity, but significant developments have taken place in
recent years with the increasing control of molecular architecture in
organized films. Of particular importance is the synergy achieved with
distinct materials such as nanoparticles, antibodies, enzymes, and
other nanostructures, forming structures organized on the nanoscale.
In this review, emphasis will be placed on nanomaterials for
biosensing based on molecular recognition, where the recognition
element may be an enzyme, DNA, RNA, catalytic antibody, aptamer,
and labeled biomolecule. All of these elements may be assembled in
nanostructured films, whose layer-by-layer nature is essential for
combining different properties in the same device. Sensing can be
done with a number of optical, electrical, and electrochemical methods, which may also rely on nanostructures for enhanced
performance, as is the case of reporting nanoparticles in bioelectronics devices. The successful design of such devices requires
investigation of interface properties of functionalized surfaces, for which a variety of experimental and theoretical methods have
been used. Because diagnosis involves the acquisition of large amounts of data, statistical and computational methods are now in
widespread use, and one may envisage an integrated expert system where information from different sources may be mined to
generate the diagnostics