Gold nanoparticle based biosensors for rapid pathogen detection: A review

The environment around us is home to a wide range of pathogens, including those that can cause life-threatening infections. As a result, rapid and early detection of pathogens is vital for mitigating health risks. While gold standard pathogen detection technologies such as culture techniques, polymerase chain reaction, and enzyme linked immunosorbent assays are still in use, nanomaterials incorporated into biosensing systems are being evaluated for on-site, point-of-care pathogen diagnosis. In this review we discussed numerous approaches of incorporating gold nanoparticles into existing biosensor types to enable efficient pathogen detection. The sensing platforms described here include nucleic acid-based biosensors, immunosensors, enzyme biosensors, fluorescence biosensors, and bacteriophage biosensors, all of which have shown improved bio diagnostic capabilities with the inclusion of gold nanoparticles. The present review summarizes the applications of gold nanoparticles in various sensing platforms. The employment of these nanobiosensors for on-site, point-of-care pathogen detection can only be accomplished once all of the issues hindering their utilization are addressed.