biosensorn.
/ˈbʌɪə(ʊ)ˌsɛnsə/, U.S. /ˈbaɪoʊˌsɛnsər/, /ˈbaɪəˌsɛnsər/ 1. A device for measuring physiological activity or for detecting the presence of organisms.There is some overlap with sense 2.
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1961 4th Semiannual Rep. to Congr. (U.S. National Aeronautics & Space Admin.) iii. 29 Astronauts' personal gear such as restraint harness, flight couch, pressure suit, bio-sensors, and communications equipment.
1965 Bios 36 173 An adequate biosensor for extraterrestrial life should have the capability for detecting living organisms where they are, regardless of the form of life encountered.
1988 ‘C. J. Cherryh’ Cyteen 114 There were biosensors on a band about his chest and around his right wrist.
2004 Games TM Apr. 13/1 Each player wears an electrode-stuffed headband that registers electrical activity in the brain. A biosensor reads this information and uses it to move the ball.
2. A biologically active agent (as an enzyme or antibody), or a living organism, which is used as the basis of a device for detecting the presence of a particular chemical; a device of this kind. Also: a living organism used as an environmental indicator.
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1975 Science 17 Oct. 237/1 Both ion-selective and gas-sensing membrane electrodes can be used in conjunction with enzymes to make selective biosensors for numerous important substrates.
1983 Biotechnol. & Bioengineering 25 1641 A biosensor consisting of immobilized nitrite oxidizing bacteria has been developed for the amperometric determination of NO2.
1992 New Scientist 4 Apr. 21/1 Researchers have genetically engineered plants which produce a sky-blue glow when under stress... Eventually it may be possible to position these ‘reporter plants’ among normal crops to act as living biosensors.
2002 N.Z. Herald 4 Mar. a5/1 Scientists hope to put bacteria into unique ‘biosensors’ that will detect pollutants in the field, doing away with the need to collect samples for laboratory testing.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1961