Theoretical Limit Of Concentration Sensing of Single Receptor Artificial Biosensors

TL;DR

This paper investigates the fundamental limits of concentration sensing in artificial biosensors, comparing biological strategies and the impact of measurement noise on sensor precision.

Contribution

It provides a theoretical analysis of the sensing limits for single receptor artificial biosensors, highlighting the differences from biological systems due to noise.

Findings

Biological sensing strategies may not be optimal for artificial sensors due to noise.

Theoretical limits define the maximum achievable precision in artificial biosensing.

Measurement noise significantly impacts the effectiveness of biosensor strategies.

Abstract

Artificially engineered biosensors are highly inefficient in accurately measuring the concentration of biomarkers, particularly, during early diagnosis of diseases. On the other hand, single cellular systems such as chemotactic bacteria can sense their environment with extraordinary precision. Therefore, one would expect that implementing the optimal cellular sensing strategies in state-of-the-art artificial sensors can produce optimally precise biosensors. However because of the presence of measurement noise, strategies that are optimal in biological systems may not be optimal in artificial systems. Therefore, mimicking biological strategies may not be the optimal path in case of artificial sensing systems because of the presence of inherent measurement noise.