A brief overview of the development of biosensors at the University of Tartu – theory meeting practical applications

This review introduces biosensing research and development activities at the University of Tartu. The biosensor studies were initiated by Jaak Järv and Toomas Tenno at the beginning of the 1980s when a biosensor combining the enzyme glucose oxidase and a cylindrical Clark­type oxygen sensor was constructed in Tartu. Since then, a lot of theoretical research has been carried out in this field, and several original ideas for constructing biosensing devices have been proposed. Different biosensor systems, from single­use immunosensors to reusable enzyme sensors, have been developed and tested for environmental analysis, food analysis, and clinical and veterinary diagnostics. These solutions have a high potential for practical, everyday applications and automated monitoring. Until now, biosensor research at the University of Tartu has resulted in five patents and more than one hundred scientific papers. Although some biosensor developments have been prototyped, none have been commercialized to date.