Advanced Thin Film Sensors for Clinical Diagnosis

Dear Colleagues,

Technology is shedding light on in situ monitoring of multiple human body variables, propelling the development of novel medical probes towards the improvement of human health care. Human physiology research available today is often unfounded, and thus new research is of great significance not only to clinical experts but also to the end users of devices incorporated into the human body that measure vital signs, body temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, respiratory rate, and many other biomarkers, either physical or biochemical. These devices are also capable of conforming to a new model of public health care focused on monitoring and prevention rather than on the treatment itself. From the point of view of sensory units, the following key questions must be considered:

• What sensors can be used to monitor physiological variables?
• How can the information collected by biosensors be used to make decisions?
• What key applications of physiological biosensors are being developed in clinical diagnosis and quality of life scope?
• What perspectives can be envisaged for physiological thin film sensors’ clinical diagnosis?

This Special Issue, “Advanced Thin Film Sensors for Clinical Diagnosis,” aims to provide updated scientific insights into the use of functional molecular structures in film form to transduce biosignals into representative biomarkers for human models and various applications for research, improvement of life quality and clinical challenges. In addition, signal processing and machine learning techniques allow decision making based on the information collected by sensors. Where medical care sensor devices and transducers are concerned, it is not possible to dissociate ourselves from the convergence of digital, physical, and biological technologies as a result of the fourth industrial revolution. From a healthcare point of view, a new era encompassing the transformation of medical devices into intelligent integrated systems that allow continuous monitoring and consequent action is coming. This reality is in line with relevant reports and resolutions of the World Health Organization, which were adopted by the World Health Assemblies in 1998. Of these, we highlight resolutions EB101.R3, 1998, WHA58.28, 2005, WHA66.24, and WHA71.7, resulting from the 66^th and 7^st meetings, held in 2013 and 2018, respectively. These resolutions, considering the growing relevance of the internet and its potential impact on health, urge member states to prioritize development of digital health technologies as a means of promoting Universal Health Coverage and disease management.

This juncture has led to a shift in the medical paradigm towards prevention rather than treatment and is at the origin of novel concepts such as eHealth and mHealth, which are based on the use of appropriate digital technologies for the promotion of public health, namely mobile devices and respective networks comprising a mobile network, or mHealth. This aspect is particularly important in the face of an aging population.

The widespread use of smart phones in today’s digital age, together with the developments in information and communication technology, namely in the speed and capacity of transmitting data through information channels, give ample support for the implementation and development of these technologies in healthcare. As a result, the medical paradigm is shifting the emphasis from treatment to prevention and early diagnosis.

Accordingly, healthcare systems are being designed to promote personal medical care for prevention and diagnosis using new digital technologies, for which a novel set of sensor devices must be developed.

We therefore invite the scientific community to submit contributions to this Biosensors Special Issue covering material and film processing, sensor device assemblage, sensor signal processing, sensor characterization, multisensory array assemblage, and signal processing.

Dr. Paulo A. Ribeiro
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Biosensors is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• medical sensors
• thin-film medical sensors
• molecular structures for medical diagnosis
• multifunctional thin film devices
• processing signals from biomedical sensor arrays
• lab on a chip