Sensors & Diagnostics Blog

Welcome to the latest Sensors & Diagnostics newsletter! We’re pleased to share a round-up of the latest journal news, as well as information on our themed collections and upcoming events.

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Latest News

Our 2026 #RSCPoster conference took place on LinkedIn for 24 hours, from 3-4 March. We’re pleased to share the winner in the #RSCAnalytical category is Karolina Kuczyńska for the poster Monitoring Photopolymerization Reactions: The Essential Role of Quantitative and Qualitative Techniques in Understanding Rapid Polymerization!

This year’s runner-up Jeriko Ho presented A holistic approach to understanding biochemical degradation of human tissues using high resolution MALDI MS.

Congratulations to the winner and runner up, and our thanks to the all of the contributors for their excellent posters. Find out about the winners in other categories on our web page: 2026 #RSCPoster winners.

We were pleased to highlight the contributions of women in sensing and diagnostics research, with a special article collection which you can read here: Celebrating International Women’s Day 2026: Women in Sensing & Diagnostics.

Themed Collections

We’re pleased to share our latest themed collection on ‘Paper-based point-of-care diagnosis’, guest edited by Daniel Citterio, Thiago Paixão, and William Reis de Araujo. This collection aims to explore the advancements, challenges, and future directions in developing and applying paper-based POC diagnostics. Read the collection here

Submissions are still open for our themed collection on ‘Wearable sensors for health monitoring & disease diagnosis’, guest edited by Dr Tailin Xu (Shenzhen University), Prof. Song Yu (City University Hong Kong), Prof. Ming Zhou (Northeast Normal University), Dr Hnin Yin Yin Nyein (The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology). The deadline for submissions is 30 June 2026. Find out more on our blog post.

Events

Sensors & Diagnostics was proud to sponsor a best speaker award at the 4th edition of the Biophotonics & Artificial Intelligence School which took place in Florence, Italy offering an advanced training programme at the intersection of biophotonics and AI. Our congratulations to the winner, Rebeca Tudor of IMT Bucharest!

Sensors & Diagnostics is proud to support the upcoming Asilomar Bioelectronics Symposium 2026, taking place 1-4 September in Pacific Grove, CA, USA. Our Editorial Board member Sahika Inal is helping organise this year’s meeting which draws together research at the interface of materials, biology, engineering and much more. Find out more and register here: https://www.asilomarbioelectronics.com/

We’re also pleased to support the RSC Analytical Biosensors interest group’s 13^th Early Career Research Meeting, which aims to engage early career researchers in debate and discussions about all areas of analytical biosciences, and provide the opportunity to build networks with other researchers in the field. Find out more at the event web page here.

Sensors & Diagnostics and Analyst are collaborating to support the Royal Australian Chemical Institute’s Analytical and Environmental Chemistry Division at the RACI National Congress 2026. Both journals are supporting awards for the best posters for the division. We look forward to finding out the identities of the winners, and wish all the participants an exciting and informative meeting! Register here for the meeting which takes place 5-10 July 2026, in Perth, WA, Australia.

Follow our channels below to keep up to date on the events we’re supporting in 2026.

Submit your work to Sensors & Diagnostics

Find out more about Sensors & Diagnostics on our webpage, where you can also find our author guidelines. Sensors & Diagnostics has received a 2024 Impact Factor of 4.1, has an article acceptance rate of 52%, and provides a first decision on articles sent to peer review in an average of 33 days.

Publishing open access with RSC journals unlocks the full potential of your research – bringing increased visibility, wider readership and higher citation potential to your work. As a not-for-profit organisation serving the chemical sciences community, we ensure that our article processing charge (APC) remains the most competitive of major publishers. More details can be found here and the APC for Sensors & Diagnostics is £2200. You can also use our journal finder tool to check if your institution currently has an agreement with the RSC that may entitle you to a discount of the APC.

Stay Connected:

Follow us on LinkedIn and Bluesky for new articles and the latest news from Sensors & Diagnostics and related journals at the Royal Society of Chemistry.

We’re pleased to inform you that this new themed collection from Sensors & Diagnostics has now been published online.

This collection was guest edited by Dr Suman Singh (CSIR-Central Scientific Instruments Organisation)

Dr Anitha Devadoss (Heriot-Watt University) and Dr Murugan Veerapandiyan (CSIR-Central Electrochemical Research Institute) to highlight the latest advancements in nanomaterials and their applications in sensors specifically tailored for early disease diagnosis. The rapid evolution in nanotechnology has paved the way for innovative sensor designs that enhance sensitivity, specificity, and patient compliance. The integration of these advancements with cutting-edge machine learning tools and theoretical models promises to revolutionize the landscape of healthcare diagnostics.

Taken together, this collection highlights the continuing development, integration, and application of nanomaterials in the field of sensor technology for early disease detection with contributions from researchers across the globe. We hope that readers will be inspired by these representative studies to further explore the vast potential of nanomaterials for sensors in early disease diagnosis.

The articles in this collection are featured below. All articles in Sensors & Diagnostics are open access and free to read. Read the collection here, https://rsc.li/sdnano24.

Editorial

Introduction to “Advances in Nanomaterials for Sensors in Early Disease Diagnosis”

Anitha Devadoss, Suman Singh and Murugan Veerapandian

Sens. Diagn., 2026, Advance Article

Review

Emerging trends in aerogel technology for sensing and biosensing applications

Aneesh Koyappayil, Gopi Karuppaiah, Sachin Ganpat Chavan, Anna Go, Hyung Chul Kim and  Min-Ho Lee

Sens. Diagn., 2026, Advance Article DOI: 10.1039/D5SD00100E

Papers

Simple and fast detection of CD4 and CD8 cells: integration of image flow system and acoustophoresis

Enjian Jin, Anna Goa and Min-Ho Lee

Sens. Diagn., 2025,4, 1086-1090 DOI: 10.1039/D5SD00108K

Towards electrochemical sensing of gemcitabine release from hybrid nanoparticles in pancreatic cancer cells

Adeolu Oluwasanmi, Kelly Brown, Clare Hoskins and Lynn Dennany

Sens. Diagn., 2025,4, 966-972 DOI: 10.1039/D5SD00110B

Nanomaterial-enhanced electrochemical biosensors for rifampicin monitoring in serum: towards precision tuberculosis therapy

Rohith Shetty, Sudhaunsh Deshpande, Anu Mary Joy, Ajith Mohan Arjun, Qianming Xu, Alison Holmes and Sanjiv Sharma

Sens. Diagn., 2026, Advance Article DOI: 10.1039/D5SD00165J

Surface-modified titanium carbide MXene as an effective platform for the immobilization of toluidine blue and H2O2 biomarker detection in biological samples

Devarasu Mohanapriyaa and Kathavarayan Thenmozhi

Sens. Diagn., 2025,4, 984-994 DOI: 10.1039/D5SD00114E

Fc@ZeNose platform for the detection of four physiologically relevant breath biomarkers: a case study using ethanol, isopropanol, acetic acid, and acetone

Nikini Subawickrama Mallika Widanaarachchige, Anirban Paul, Sriram Muthukumarb and Shalini Prasad

Sens. Diagn., 2025,4, 723-735 DOI: 10.1039/D5SD00038F

A non-invasive device for glucose monitoring through saliva – a paradigm shift in diabetes care

Shweta Panwar, D. Syed Kasim, Harpreet Singh, Akanksha Priya, K. K. Deepak, Shyam Prakashb  and Sandeep Kumar Jha

Sens. Diagn., 2025,4, 680-689 DOI: 10.1039/D5SD00027K

A label-free nanowell-based impedance sensor for ten-minute SARS-CoV-2 detection

Zhuolun Meng, Liam White, Pengfei Xie, Hassan Raji, S. Reza Mahmoodi, Aris Karapiperis, Hao Lin, German Drazer, Mehdi Javanmard and Edward P. DeMauro

Sens. Diagn., 2025,4, 511-518 DOI: 10.1039/D5SD00002E

Selective sensing of heavy metal ions using carbon dots synthesized from Azadirachta indica seeds

Somedutta Maity, Santhosh Kumar, Gurmeet Singh, Sukanya Patra, Divya Pareeka and Pradip Paik

Sens. Diagn., 2025,4, 407-415 DOI: 10.1039/D4SD00350K

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Welcome to the first Sensors & Diagnostics newsletter of 2026! We are excited to share a recap of the journal’s progress in 2025, and our most recent updates. We wish all of our readers, authors, reviewers and editors a successful year ahead. Get future updates directly to your inbox with our email alerts. Sign up here.

Latest News

Sensors & Diagnostics articles will soon feature a new section outlining the limitations of the techniques presented, allowing authors to put their work in a practical context for readers. No action is needed by authors at this time. Further details on this new section will be announced in well advance, and will be shared on the journal home page, in our newsletter, and through the social media channels listed at the bottom of this message.

We are very excited to announce that the 2026 #RSCPoster Conference will be taking place for 24 hours starting 3rd March 2026, 12:00 UTC.

The #RSCPoster conference is an annual event that has become a staple on many scientific community calendars. Held entirely online on LinkedIn over 24 hours, the unique format removes the environmental and financial costs of attending a traditional conference, and helps scientific researchers share their work and network across disciplines, wherever they are in the world. Find out more and join in: https://rsc.li/poster

2025 in Review

The Medical and Analytical Device Laboratory (MADLab) at the University of Southern California received our Outstanding Early Career Researcher Award 2024. The team comprising Sina Khazaee Nejad, Haozheng Ma, Abdulrahman Al-Shami, Ali Soleimani, Mona A. Mohamed, Preston Dankwah, Hannah J. Lee, and team leader Maral Mousavi were recognised for their paper “Sustainable agriculture with LEAFS: a low-cost electrochemical analyzer of foliage stress”. Find out more about the team and their article in our blog post.

The journal’s editors were pleased to meet the community at events including Pittcon, EMIM 2025, Biosensors 2025, Eurosensors 2025, Pacifichem, and the 5th Micro-Nano Technology and Medical Health Innovation Conference.

We welcomed two outstanding researchers to the Sensors & Diagnostics Editorial Board as Associate Editors: Prof. Jiashu Sun of the National Centre for Nanoscience and Technology (NCNST) in China and Prof. Hongyan Sun of the City University of Hong Kong. We are excited to have these two outstanding researchers join our editorial board.

We published a new collection of articles on Lateral Flow Assays, guest edited by Jing Wang  (Zhejiang University of Technology), Jiangjiang Zhang  (Beijing Institute of Technology) and Yanmin Ju (China Pharmaceutical University). Find out about our new themed collections below!

Collections

Sensors & Diagnostics is delighted to welcome papers for a themed collection on ‘Wearable sensors for health monitoring & disease diagnosis’, guest edited by Dr Tailin Xu (Shenzhen University), Prof. Song Yu (City University Hong Kong), Prof. Ming Zhou (Northeast Normal University), Dr Hnin Yin Yin Nyein (The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology). The deadline for submissions is 30 June 2026. Find out more on our blog post.

We’re pleased to announce the publication of a new collection on CRISPR-based diagnostics. This collection was guest edited by Prof. Long Ma (Tianjin University of Science and Technology), Prof. Xiaoming Zhou (South China Normal University), Dr Xinkuan Cheng (Tianjin University of Science and Technology) to highlight the complex interactions between CRISPR-based diagnostics and healthcare by providing valuable insights and practical significance to promote the development of CRISPR-based diagnostics within the field. The contributions span a wide range of topics, including integration of CRISPR with biosensing technologies, point of care diagnostics as well as biomedical and clinical applications of CRISPR based diagnostic tools. Read more on our blog.

Upcoming events

Sensors & Diagnostics is supporting the International Biophotonics & Artificial Intelligence School, 9-13 February 2026, in Florence, Italy. We wish the participants an enlightening visit!

Follow our channels below to keep up to date on the events we’re supporting in 2026.

Submit your work to Sensors & Diagnostics

Find out more about Sensors & Diagnostics on our webpage, where you can also find our author guidelines. Sensors & Diagnostics has received a 2024 Impact Factor of 4.1, has an article acceptance rate of 52%, and provides a first decision on articles sent to peer review in an average of 33 days.

Publishing open access with RSC journals unlocks the full potential of your research – bringing increased visibility, wider readership and higher citation potential to your work. As a not-for-profit organisation serving the chemical sciences community, we ensure that our article processing charge (APC) remains the most competitive of major publishers. More details can be found here and the APC for Sensors & Diagnostics is £2200. You can also use our journal finder tool to check if your institution currently has an agreement with the RSC that may entitle you to a discount of the APC.

Stay Connected

Follow us on LinkedIn and Bluesky for new articles and the latest news from Sensors & Diagnostics and related journals at the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Sensors & Diagnostics is delighted to welcome papers for a themed collection on ‘Wearable sensors for health monitoring & disease diagnosis’, guest edited by Dr Tailin Xu (Shenzhen University), Prof. Song Yu (City University Hong Kong), Prof. Ming Zhou (Northeast Normal University), Dr Hnin Yin Yin Nyein (The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology).

Wearable health technologies have emerged as a transformative force in modern medicine, offering continuous, real-time access to physiological and biochemical information. With advances in materials science, micro/nano-fabrication, wireless communication, and artificial intelligence, wearable sensors are increasingly capable of capturing diverse biomarkers—including physical, electrophysiological, and biochemical signals.  The integration of wearable sensors with advanced analytical techniques has enabled enhanced sensitivity, specificity, and reliability in detecting early disease signals. Coupled with machine learning and cloud-based data analytics, wearable systems now provide opportunities to monitor disease progression, assess therapeutic response, and support precision healthcare.

This themed collection will highlight cutting-edge research on wearable sensors for health monitoring and disease diagnosis, with an emphasis on innovations in materials, device engineering, multimodal sensing platforms, data analytics, and clinical translation.

We welcome submissions on the following topics:

• Wearable Sensing Technologies
• Innovative Device Platforms
• Materials, Microfluidics, and System Integration
• Data Analytics and Intelligent Health Monitoring
• Clinical and Translational Studies
• Emerging Concepts

Submit now

The journal welcomes high-quality research articles and reviews that present the latest advances and insights in this rapidly evolving field.

The deadline for submissions is 30 June 2026

The manuscript should be prepared according to our article guidelines and submitted via our online system. For more information on the journal, please see the journal homepage.

All manuscripts will be subject to the usual initial assessment and peer review processes as necessary, and inclusion in the Collection will be at the discretion of the Guest Editors. Please indicate in your submission that you are submitting to this Collection and inform the Editorial Office by email.

Following our peer-review process, we will publish accepted articles online in a citeable form as soon as they are ready, with compilation and promotion of the complete collection in late 2026.

We’re pleased to inform you that this new themed collection from Sensors & Diagnostics has now been published online.

This collection was guest edited by Prof. Long Ma (Tianjin University of Science and Technology), Prof. Xiaoming Zhou (South China Normal University), Dr Xinkuan Cheng (Tianjin University of Science and Technology) to highlight the complex interactions between CRISPR-based diagnostics and healthcare by providing valuable insights and practical significance to promote the development of CRISPR-based diagnostics within the field. The contributions span a wide range of topics, including integration of CRISPR with biosensing technologies, point of care diagnostics as well as biomedical and clinical applications of CRISPR based diagnostic tools.

Taken together, this collection highlights the continuing evolution of CRISPR based diagnostic tools, with contributions from researchers across the globe. We hope that readers will be inspired by these representative studies to further explore the vast potential of CRISPR based diagnostic tools and their application in healthcare diagnostics.

The articles in this collection are featured below. All articles in Sensors & Diagnostics are open access and free to read.

Reviews:

Exploring the diagnostic synergy of isothermal amplification-integrated CRISPR technology for tuberculosis: a systematic review

Ankush Kaushik, Yamini Saini, Zeeshan Fatima, Jitendra Singh and  Saif Hameed

Sens. Diagn., 2025, 4, 823-832 DOI: 10.1039/D5SD00080G

Current advance of CRISPR/Cas-based SERS technology

Huimin Wang, Ailing Su, Jingjing Chang, Xiangguo Liu, Chongyang Liang ORCID and Shuping Xu

Sens. Diagn., 2023, 2, 792-805 DOI: 10.1039/D2SD00235C

Microfluidic platforms for CRISPR-based biosensing advancing molecular diagnostics from benchtop to point-of-care

Yanping Wang, Huimin Jiang, Yanyin Zhang, Qingran Yang, Yujun Song and Yanfeng Gao

Sensors & Diagnostics, 2025, DOI: 10.1039/D5SD00176E

CRISPR-based diagnostics for circulating cell-free DNA: a paradigm shift in precision oncology

Sakshi Seth and K. Sudhakara Prasad

Sens. Diagn., 2025, 4, 925-938 DOI: 10.1039/D5SD00083A

Papers

A CRISPR-amplified label-free electrochemical aptasensor for the sensitive detection of HbA1c

Jianfeng Ma, Youwei Zheng, Yaoyao Xie, Dan Zhu, Lianhui Wang and Shao Su

Sens. Diagn., 2024, 3, 1247-1252 DOI: 10.1039/D4SD00193A

CRISPR/Cas13a-assisted amplification-free miRNA biosensor via dark-field imaging and magnetic gold nanoparticles

Jae-Jun Kim, Jae-Sang Hong, Hyunho Kim, Moonhyun Choi, Ursula Winter, Hakho Lee and Hyungsoon Im

Sens. Diagn., 2024, 3, 1310-1318 DOI: 10.1039/D4SD00081A

As we enter the last quarter of 2025, we are excited to share our latest updates from Sensors & Diagnostics with the community.

Get future updates directly to your inbox with our email alerts. Sign up here.

Latest News

We’re pleased to share the recipients of our Outstanding Early Career Researcher Award 2024. This innovative research team from the Medical and Analytical Device Laboratory (MADLab) at the University of Southern California comprises Sina Khazaee Nejad, Haozheng Ma, Abdulrahman Al-Shami, Ali Soleimani, Mona A. Mohamed, Preston Dankwah, Hannah J. Lee, and team leader Maral Mousavi. Their article “Sustainable agriculture with LEAFS: a low-cost electrochemical analyzer of foliage stress” presents a portable and low-cost electrochemical sensor that detects salicylic acid – a key biomarker of plant stress. Find out more about the team and their article in our blog post.

Research Spotlight

Afzal et al. have introduced a non-enzymatic electrochemical sensor for the biologically important molecule acetylcholine. Acetylcholine’s significance as a biomarker for neurodegenerative disease, cancer means sensitive and inexpensive quantification methods are highly valuable. Read their article, “Electrochemically patterned biomimetic polypyrrole integrating ZnO·CuO nanoleaves for picomolar acetylcholine detection in cancer and neurological disorders” for more.

In “Microfluidic platforms for CRISPR-based biosensing advancing molecular diagnostics from benchtop to point-of-care”, Song, Gao et al. review how the integration of CRISPR-Cas tools for nucleic acid detection with microfluidics technology provides new opportunities sensing biomarkers in contexts ranging from clinical diagnosis to food safety to environmental monitoring. Read their article to learn more about the state of the art and challenges in this new sensing methodology.

Can flow cytometry be simplified? In a new Communication, “Simple and fast detection of CD4 and CD8 cells: integration of image flow system and acoustophoresis”, Lee et al. use advances in high-throughput image analysis and acoustophoresis to analyse CD4 and CD7 cells in flow. Clinical validation suggests next steps for refining the technique, which the authors expect will allow performance comparable to conventional microscopy.

Sensors & Diagnostics in the Community

Assistant Editor Zareena Saleem represented Sensors & Diagnostics at Eurosensors 2025, and met with the community while enjoying the high-quality scientific program.

Sensors & Diagnostics was proud to sponsor a best poster prize at the 2025 Chemical Science Symposium – chemistry of imaging, biosensing and diagnostics, which took place at the Royal Society of Chemistry’s headquarters at Burlington House in London. Our congratulations to the winner, Sara Staudhammer (ETH Zürich)!

Editorial Board

We welcomed two new Associate Editors to the Sensors & Diagnostics Editorial Board this year, whose knowledge and research experience that will strengthen the journal’s commitment to advancing biosensing technologies and diagnostics.

Prof. Jiashu Sun is a professor at the National Centre for Nanoscience and Technology (NCNST) in China. Her research focuses on developing technologies for liquid biopsy, which can help detect cancer earlier and more accurately. Prof. Sun’s lab uses microfluidics and DNA materials to isolate cancer-related cells and molecules from blood samples, providing new insights into how we diagnose and monitor cancer.

With over 100 publications, Prof. Sun’s work is focused on turning laboratory breakthroughs into practical solutions that can have a real impact on patients.

Prof. Hongyan Sun is a professor at the City University of Hong Kong. She specializes in designing fluorescent probes that help detect molecules linked to various diseases. Her research has led to new ways of studying and understanding diseases, which is key to improving diagnostics and treatment options.

Her lab has developed tools that help researchers and clinicians better visualize disease markers, making it easier to track disease progression and treatment outcomes. Prof. Sun has published over 100 papers in high-impact journals, and her work is paving the way for more precise and reliable medical diagnostics.

We are excited to have these two outstanding researchers join our editorial board. With their combined expertise in biosensing and diagnostic technologies, Prof. Jiashu Sun and Prof. Hongyan Sun will help guide Sensors & Diagnostics as we continue to publish innovative research that addresses real-world health challenges.

The Sensors & Diagnostics Editorial Board met at the Royal Society of Chemistry headquarters in Burlington House, London in September for its annual meeting. This meeting allowed the journal to discuss its strategy for 2026, and review the journal’s progress and challenges over the past year.

Collections

Our themed collection on Nanomaterial-based sensors for food monitoring is open for submissions until 31 January 2026. This collection will highlight state-of-the-art research on nanomaterials-based sensors for food monitoring applications, with an emphasis on nanomaterials-based colorimetric, fluorometric, electrochemical and other emerging analytical platforms for food analysis. The journal seeks submissions of high-quality research articles and reviews on the latest advances and insights on these topics of imminent interest. Find out more, including how to contribute your article at our call for papers.

Our collection on Sensors for infectious disease diagnosis is also open for submissions. Led by our Associate Editors Carlos D. Garcia (Clemson University), Michael Serpe (University of Alberta) and Jiashu Sun (National Center for Nanoscience and Technology), this themed issue will compile contributions focusing on some of the most common health conditions, ranging from infectious diseases to cancer. While lab-based sensing and traditional analytical approaches are extensive and extremely useful, the submissions in this themed issue will highlight innovative technologies that can be used to detect analytes of interest using a myriad of transduction methods. Find out more at the call for papers, and contribute your work by 31 January 2026.

Our themed collection on Lateral Flow Assays is now available to read! This collection of articles, guest edited by Jing Wang (Zhejiang University of Technology), Jiangjiang Zhang (Beijing Institute of Technology) and Yanmin Ju (China Pharmaceutical University) showcases cutting-edge research in the design, development, and deployment of lateral flow technologies. The contributions span a wide range of topics, including novel nanomaterials, signal amplification strategies, point-of-care diagnostics, and real-world applications in healthcare, food safety, and environmental monitoring.

Taken together, this collection highlights the remarkable versatility and continuing evolution of lateral flow assays, with contributions from researchers across the globe. We hope that readers will be inspired by these representative studies to further explore the vast potential of lateral flow assays-from enhancing sensitivity and integrating digital readouts to broadening applications in medical diagnostics, environmental monitoring, and food safety.

Upcoming Events

Our Associate Editor Prof. Jiashu Sun will be speaking at the 5th Micro-Nano Technology and Medical Health Innovation Conference in Xiamen, China, taking place 5-7 December, 2025.

Executive Editor Anna Rulka will be representing Sensors & Diagnostics at this year’s Pacifichem symposium in Honolulu, Hawaii, on 15-20 December 2025. We look forward to meeting you there!

Stay Connected

Follow us on LinkedIn and Bluesky for new articles and the latest news from Sensors & Diagnostics and related journals at the Royal Society of Chemistry.

We’re delighted to announce the recipients of the Outstanding Early Career Researcher Award 2024 from Sensors & Diagnostics: the innovative team behind “Sustainable agriculture with LEAFS: a low-cost electrochemical analyzer of foliage stress”.

This research team, led by Maral Mousavi at the Medical and Analytical Device Laboratory (MADLab), University of Southern California, has developed a portable and low-cost electrochemical sensor that detects salicylic acid (SA)—a key biomarker of plant stress. Traditional methods for SA detection, such as chromatography, are effective but expensive and lab-bound. LEAFS offers a scalable alternative using laser-induced graphene (LIG) and square wave voltammetry for highly sensitive, real-time detection in plants such as aloe vera and philodendron hederaceum.

With a sensitivity of 144.28 μA mM⁻¹ and a detection limit of 1.44 μM, LEAFS empowers farmers and researchers with field-ready, real-time monitoring of plant health, supporting precision agriculture and global food security.

About the researchers:

• Maral Mousavi, the PI, leads MADLab with a vision for equitable, field-deployable diagnostics across biology and agriculture.
• Sina Khazaee Nejad works at the intersection of wearable sensors and machine learning.
• Haozheng Ma specializes in high-sensitivity electrochemical biosensors.
• Abdulrahman Al-Shami focuses on accessible diagnostic devices for global health.
• Ali Soleimani develops low-cost biosensors and microfluidic tools.
• Mona A. Mohamed is an expert in electrochemical sensing and nanomaterials.
• Preston Dankwah contributed as an undergrad in mechanical-biomedical research.
• Hannah J. Lee explores cancer diagnostics and nano-based imaging.

In their words:

“We are honoured to receive the Outstanding Early Career Research Award from Sensors & Diagnostics. This recognition highlights the importance of developing accessible and sustainable technologies for sustainable agriculture. Our work on the LEAFS platform represents a collective effort to merge low-cost electrochemical sensing with real-world applications that can impact food security. We are grateful to the journal and its editorial team for this recognition, and we look forward to working with the wider community to push forward the frontiers of point of care diagnostics.”

🔗 Read the winners’ paper here!

Join us on LinkedIn to celebrate with the winners!

Sign up now to get updates in our e-alerts.

We’re pleased to inform you that this new themed collection from Sensors & Diagnostics has now been published online.

Read the collection here

This themed collection, guest edited by Jing Wang (Zhejiang University of Technology), Jiangjiang Zhang (Beijing Institute of Technology) and Yanmin Ju (China Pharmaceutical University) showcases cutting-edge research in the design, development, and deployment of lateral flow technologies. The contributions span a wide range of topics, including novel nanomaterials, signal amplification strategies, point-of-care diagnostics, and real-world applications in healthcare, food safety, and environmental monitoring.

Taken together, this collection highlights the remarkable versatility and continuing evolution of lateral flow assays, with contributions from researchers across the globe. We hope that readers will be inspired by these representative studies to further explore the vast potential of lateral flow assays-from enhancing sensitivity and integrating digital readouts to broadening applications in medical diagnostics, environmental monitoring, and food safety.

The articles in this collection are featured below. All articles in Sensors & Diagnostics are open access and free to read.

Introduction to “Lateral Flow Assays: Methods and Applications”

Jing Wang, Jiangjiang Zhang and Yanmin Ju

Sens. Diagn., 2025, DOI: 10.1039/D5SD90027A

The importance of antibody orientation for enhancing sensitivity and selectivity in lateral flow immunoassays

Zhao-Yu Lu and Yang-Hsiang Chan

Sens. Diagn., 2024, 3, 1613–1634 DOI: 10.1039/D4SD00206G

Improved point-of-care detection of P. gingivalis using optimized surface-enhanced Raman scattering in lateral flow assays

Lyndsay N. Kissell, Daewoo Han, Der Vang, Alexander W. R. Cikanek, Andrew J. Steckl and Pietro Strobbia

Sens. Diagn., 2024, 3, 839–849 DOI: 10.1039/D4SD00056K

Non-organic solvent extraction of capsaicinoids from oil combined with fluorescent lateral flow immunoassay strips for on-site identification of illegally recycled waste cooking oil

Yulian Wang, Yuxiang Wu, Deji Gesang, Zixuan Dong, Zhaoxu Qin, Qingchun Li, Jin Li, Qianxu Zhou and Guoqing Shi

Sens. Diagn., 2025, 4, 147–158 DOI: 10.1039/D4SD00306C

Rapid and automated interpretation of CRISPR-Cas13-based lateral flow assay test results using machine learning

Mengyuan Xue, Diego H. Gonzalez, Emmanuel Osikpa, Xue Gao and Peter B. Lillehoj

Sens. Diagn., 2025, 4, 171–181 DOI: 10.1039/D4SD00314D

Biotin/avidin-free sandwich aptamer-based lateral flow assay (ALFA) for the diagnosis of Trichomonas vaginalis

Christine Aubrey C. Justo, Vasso Skouridou, Piet Cools, Guy Mulinganya, Alexandra Ibáñez-Escribano and Ciara K. O’Sullivan

Sens. Diagn., 2025, 4, 216–228 DOI: 10.1039/D4SD00342J

Lateral flow assay-based detection of nuclear fusion oncoprotein: implications for screening of acute promyelocytic leukemia

Maede Chabi, Binh Vu, Kristen Brosamer, Sophia Song, Vijay Maranholkar, Zihua Zeng, Youli Zu, Rashmi Kanagal-Shamanna, Jacinta C. Conrad, Richard C. Willson and Katerina Kourentzi

Sens. Diagn., 2025, 4, 416–424 DOI: 10.1039/D4SD00357H

Selection of a DNA aptamer for aflatoxin B1 and the development of a lateral flow assay for the detection of aflatoxins in spiked peanut extract

Fiona Ebanks, Erin M. McConnell, Emily Mastronardi, Daniel Goudreau, Hadi Nasrallah, Velu Ranganathan and Maria C. DeRosa

Sens. Diagn., 2025, 4, 697–710 DOI: 10.1039/D4SD00271G

We are thrilled to announce that Prof. Jiashu Sun and Prof. Hongyan Sun have joined the Editorial Board of Sensors & Diagnostics as our newest Associate Editors. Both bring a knowledge and research experience that will strengthen the journal’s commitment to advancing biosensing technologies and diagnostics.

Prof. Jiashu Sun is a professor at the National Centre for Nanoscience and Technology (NCNST) in China. Her research focuses on developing technologies for liquid biopsy, which can help detect cancer earlier and more accurately. Prof. Sun’s lab uses microfluidics and DNA materials to isolate cancer-related cells and molecules from blood samples, providing new insights into how we diagnose and monitor cancer.

With over 100 publications, Prof. Sun’s work is focused on turning laboratory breakthroughs into practical solutions that can have a real impact on patients.

Prof. Hongyan Sun, a professor at the City University of Hong Kong. She specializes in designing fluorescent probes that help detect molecules linked to various diseases. Her research has led to new ways of studying and understanding diseases, which is key to improving diagnostics and treatment options.

Her lab has developed tools that help researchers and clinicians better visualize disease markers, making it easier to track disease progression and treatment outcomes. Prof. Sun has published over 100 papers in high-impact journals, and her work is paving the way for more precise and reliable medical diagnostics.

We are excited to have these two outstanding researchers join our editorial board. With their combined expertise in biosensing and diagnostic technologies, Prof. Jiashu Sun and Prof. Hongyan Sun will help guide Sensors & Diagnostics as we continue to publish innovative research that addresses real-world health challenges.

Head over to LinkedIn and join us in welcoming Professor Hongyan and Jiashu to the Sensors & Diagnosis Editorial Board!

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We are pleased to welcome Professor Michael Serpe as the new Associate Editor for Sensors & Diagnostics. Michael Serpe is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Alberta with a focus on developing innovative, stimuli-responsive polymer technologies. His work has contributed to the fields of environmental science and healthcare, particularly in the development of polymer-based sensors and biosensors.

Professor Serpe’s academic journey began with a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Central Florida, followed by a Ph.D. from Georgia Tech. After postdoctoral research in both industry and academia, he joined the University of Alberta in 2009, achieving the rank of Full Professor in 2018. Alongside his role as Associate Dean of Graduate Studies in the Faculty of Science, Professor Serpe leads a research group widely known for its work on stimuli-responsive polymers.

One of the group’s standout innovations is the creation of “etalons,” stimuli-responsive polymer-based sensors with wide-ranging applications. Initially focused on building a fundamental understanding of etalons, Professor Serpe’s team now uses them to develop point-of-care diagnostic devices. Their recent work includes the development of a portable sensor for detecting orthophosphate (PO43–) and adapting glucose test strips for COVID-19 antibody detection. These technologies have potential applications in both environmental monitoring and healthcare diagnostics.

We are excited to have Professor Mike Serpe on board, and we look forward to his contributions to Sensors & Diagnostics. His expertise in stimuli-responsive polymers-based biosensors will bring a fresh perspective to the journal’s mission of highlighting cutting-edge research in the field.

Head over to LinkedIn and join us in welcoming Professor Serpe to the Sensors & Diagnosis Editorial Board!

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