The future of diagnostics

The Covid-19 pandemic has made it clear that there is a need to have fast and reliable diagnostic tests available in point-of-care (PoC) surroundings. Well-known tests, like the glucose test for diabetes patients, and the pregnancy test are on the market for decades already.

Many other diagnostic tests are still complex, and have to be performed by trained staff on large equipment in specialized facilities. Another setback is that scaling up production of tests, when there is an urgent need for large numbers, is cumbersome and time-consuming, like has been seen during the afore mentioned pandemic.

In the last decade, new biosensor technologies have emerged that allow the sensitive and quantitative detection of biomarkers (indicator molecules, e.g. specific proteins or DNA) for conditions like cancer, cardiovascular and infectious diseases.