SPR-Based Affinity Biosensors as Innovative Analytical Devices

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) affinity biosensors and the new technology named SPR imaging (SPRi) are successful analytical devices that represent useful and versatile analytical tools for a variety of applications in bioanalytical chemistry. The selectivity of these systems relies mainly on the bioreceptor immobilized on the biochip surface, which can range from nucleic acid sequence to antibodies, proteins, and new synthetic bioreceptors. Thanks to SPRi, the parallel immobilization of tens bioreceptors allows the multianalyte detection in real time and label-free manner. Moreover, different assay designs can be tailored for a broad range of different molecular weight target analytes, from small molecules (hundreds of Da) to living cells. In this chapter, we will focus on examples relative to SPR-based affinity biosensors developed for medicine applications. © 1983-2012 IEEE.