Portable light detectors for bioluminescence biosensing applications: A comprehensive review from the analytical chemist's perspective

Abstract

Bioluminescence, that is the emission of light in living organisms, has been extensively explored and applied for diverse bioanalytical applications, spanning from molecular imaging to biosensing. The unprecedented technological evolution of portable light detectors opened new possibilities to implement bioluminescence detection into miniaturized devices. We are witnessing a number of applications, including DNA sequencing, reporter gene assays, DNA amplification for point-of care and point-of need analyses relying on BL. Several photon detectors are currently available for measuring low light emission, such as photomultiplier tubes (PMT), charge-coupled devices (CCD), complementary metal oxide semiconductors (CMOS), single photon avalanche diodes (SPADs), silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) and smartphone-integrated CMOS. Each technology has pros and cons and several issues, such as temperature dependence of the instrumental specific noise, the power supply, imaging capability and ease of integration, should be considered in the selection of the most appropriate detector for the selected BL application. These issues will be critically discussed from the perspective of the analytical chemist together with relevant examples from the literature with the goal of helping the reader in the selection and use of the most suitable detector for the selected application and to introduce non familiar readers into this exciting field.

Keywords: Analytical device; Bioluminescence; Biosensor; Portable light detector; Smartphone.