Next-Generation Biosensors for Point-of-Care Diagnostics: Nanomaterials, Microfluidics, and Liquid Biopsy Approaches in Cancer and Infectious Diseases

The global burden of cancer and infectious diseases demands rapid, accurate, and affordable diagnostic solutions that can operate beyond centralised laboratory settings. Biosensor technologies have emerged as powerful tools to address this gap, enabling sensitive and specific detection of disease biomarkers at or near the point of care. Recent advances in functional nanomaterials, microfluidic engineering, and acoustic transduction, including surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices, have dramatically expanded what is possible in terms of sensitivity, miniaturisation, and multiplexing. In parallel, liquid biopsy approaches leveraging exosome-based biosensing offer a non-invasive window into tumour biology and systemic infection, with significant promise for early detection. Despite this progress, translating laboratory prototypes into robust, validated clinical tools remains a formidable challenge across the field.This Research Topic aims to consolidate and advance knowledge at the intersection of biosensor engineering, nanomaterial science, microfluidics, and molecular diagnostics, with a unifying focus on clinical translation for cancer and infectious disease applications. We seek to create a comprehensive collection that captures the current state of the art, identifies key technical and translational bottlenecks, and provides a roadmap toward robust point-of-care solutions. Contributions that advance the design, fabrication, characterisation, and validation of biosensing platforms are particularly encouraged, spanning electrochemical, optical, piezoelectric, and acoustic wave-based approaches. We are especially interested in work that integrates functional nanomaterials and engineered polymers as signal enhancement or biorecognition elements, and research that explores exosome isolation and biosensing as a non-invasive liquid biopsy strategy. By bringing together materials scientists, bioengineers, and diagnostics developers, this Research Topic aims to foster the cross-disciplinary dialogue that clinical translation demands.We welcome submissions including Original Research, Methods, and Systematic Reviews. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:• Electrochemical, optical, piezoelectric, and surface acoustic wave (SAW) biosensor design and optimisation• Microfluidic and lab-on-a-chip integration for diagnostic platforms• Functional nanomaterials and polymers for signal amplification and biorecognition• Exosome-based biosensing and liquid biopsy strategies for cancer and infectious diseases• Molecular diagnostic approaches including CRISPR-based and nucleic acid amplification platforms• Point-of-care device validation and clinical performance studies• Regulatory and scalability considerations for diagnostic biosensorsPurely computational studies without experimental validation, and purely clinical or epidemiological studies, fall outside the scope of this Research Topic. Topic editors: Shalini Devi K.S., Khairunnisa Amreen, Dhrubajyoti Das Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/82377/next-generation-biosensors-for-point-of-care-diagnostics-nanomaterials-microfluidics-and-liquid-biopsy-approaches-in-cancer-and-infectious-diseases