Sensor Technologies for Virus Detection: Challenges and Perspectives

Rapid and accurate detection of viruses is essential to control infectious diseases and reduce the risk of outbreaks. Sensor technologies, including biosensors, nanotechnology-based platforms, and lab-on-a-chip systems, have emerged as transformative diagnostic tools due to their exceptional sensitivity, specificity, and ability to be analysed in real-time. Despite these advances, several critical challenges hinder their widespread adoption, including limitations on sensitivity, complex sample preparation, signal interference, and integration into existing healthcare infrastructures. This chapter systematically reviews these challenges and considers solutions to improve sensor performance, such as the incorporation of advanced nanomaterials, machine learning-driven data analysis, and microfluidics-based assay optimisation. Additionally, it reviews the state of the art in portable and point-of-care diagnostic devices that facilitate rapid and reliable virus detection in both clinical and field settings, as well as ethical considerations in sensor-based virus detection. Sensor-based technologies have immense potential to revolutionise viral diagnostics by overcoming these limitations, enabling more efficient disease surveillance, timely clinical interventions and robust outbreak prevention strategies.