Biosensors 2012

• Published in: Biosensors & bioelectronics Vol. 40; no. 1; pp. 1 - 2
• Main Author: Turner, Anthony P.F.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier B.V 15.02.2013
• Subjects: Biosensing Techniques - trends; Biotechnology - trends; Congresses as Topic - statistics & numerical data
• ISSN: 0956-5663; 1873-4235; 1873-4235
• DOI: 10.1016/j.bios.2012.07.056

Welcome to this Special Edition of Biosensors and Bioelectronics containing selected papers from the 22nd Anniversary Edition of the World Congress on Biosensors. Biosensors 2012 was held in Cancún, Mexico, which is located on the north-eastern coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, from Tuesday 15 to Friday 18 May 2012. The main Congress comprised a three-day intensive programme preceded by the now traditional and highly popular one-day Summer School on Biosensors. The World Congress has alternated biannually between the continents since 1990, serving the Biosensors community as the principal vehicle to meet and discuss our rapidly expanding subject. The rate of publication and commercial expansion of our area never ceases to amaze me; 11% of all papers ever published on Biosensors were published in the last year and the total worldwide sales of Biosensors now exceeds 13 billion US dollars. In addition to efforts focussed on the commercialisation of biosensors themselves, the expanding academic market has spawned extraordinary and unconventionally aggressive competition in both the publishing and conferencing arenas. In the worst case, this threatens to confuse and dilute many years of effort to consolidate the field. However, hopefully a discerning audience will see its way through the current maze of offerings. As new knowledge emerges, we continue to see our innovative community absorbing ideas and expanding the possibilities to deliver new measurement science and devices to meet the burgeoning needs of society for personalised diagnostics and a safe and secure environment...