Design and development of opto-electrochemical biosensing devices for diagnosing chronic kidney disease.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is emerging as one of the major causes of the increase in mortality rate and is expected to become 5th major cause by 2050. Many studies have shown that it is majorly related to various risk factors, and thus becoming one of the major health issues around the globe. Early detection of renal disease lowers the overall burden of disease by preventing individuals from developing kidney impairment. Therefore, diagnosis and prevention of CKD are becoming the major challenges, and in this situation, biosensors have emerged as one of the best possible solutions. Biosensors are becoming one of the preferred choices for various diseases diagnosis as they provide simpler, cost-effective and precise methods for onsite detection. In this review, we have tried to discuss the globally developed biosensors for the detection of CKD, focusing on their design, pattern, and applicability in real samples. Two major classifications of biosensors based on transduction systems, that is, optical and electrochemical, for kidney disease have been discussed in detail. Also, the major focus is given to clinical biomarkers such as albumin, creatinine, and others related to kidney dysfunction. Furthermore, the globally developed sensors for the detection of CKD are discussed in tabulated form comparing their analytical performance, response time, specificity as well as performance in biological fluids.

The third international hackathon for applying insights into large-scale genomic composition to use cases in a wide range of organisms.

In October 2021, 59 scientists from 14 countries and 13 U.S. states collaborated virtually in the Third Annual Baylor College of Medicine & DNANexus Structural Variation hackathon. The goal of the hackathon was to advance research on structural variants (SVs) by prototyping and iterating on open-source software. This led to nine hackathon projects focused on diverse genomics research interests, including various SV discovery and genotyping methods, SV sequence reconstruction, and clinically relevant structural variation, including SARS-CoV-2 variants. Repositories for the projects that participated in the hackathon are available at https://github.com/collaborativebioinformatics.

Nano-bio-engineered silk matrix based devices for molecular bioanalysis.

Silk is a fibrous protein, has been a part of human lives for centuries,  and was used as suture and textile material. Silk is mainly produced by the members of certain arthropods such as spiders, butterflies, mites, and moths. However, recent technological advances have revolutionized silk as a biomaterial for various applications ranging from heat sensors to robust fibers. The biocompatibility, mechanical resilience, and biodegradability of the material make it a suitable candidate for biomaterials. Silk can also be easily converted into several morphological forms, including fibers, films, sponges, and hydrogels. Provided these abilities, silk have received excellent traction from scientists worldwide for various developments, one of them being its use as a bio-sensor. The diversity of silk materials offers various options, giving scientists the freedom to choose from and personalize them as per their needs. In this review, we foremost look upon the composition, production, properties, and various morphologies of silk. The numerous applications of silk and its derivatives for fabricating biosensors to detect small molecules, macromolecules, and cells have been explored comprehensively. Also, the data from various globally developed sensors using silk have been described into organized tables for each category of molecules, along with their important analytical details.