Molecularly imprinted materials for biomedical sensing

Significant advances have been presented in the last decades in the field of biomedical analysis and sensing, especially pertaining to routine procedures based on immunologic and nucleic acids, including enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and real-time polymerase chain reaction (RTq-PCR). Despite their efficiency, some limitations such as reagent stability and availability, cost and cumbersome analysis procedures still limit further advances in this area. In this context, the development of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) for biomedical purposes has contributed to the improvement of consolidated applications and the development of new approaches in a wide range of application scenarios. This review discusses the contribution of MIPs for advances in biomedical sensing in the past 5 years highlighting their main synthesis strategies, and applications especially for the detection of biomarkers, viruses and bacteria. Last but not least, the utility of MIPs in diagnostic imaging is emphasized.