micromachines Review DNA Microsystems for Biodiagnosis Alana Torres Vidal 1, Igor L. Medintz 2 and Hieu Bui 1,* 1 Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC 20064, USA;
[email protected] 2 Center for Bio/Molecular Science and Engineering, Code 6900, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375, USA;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected] Received: 8 April 2020; Accepted: 22 April 2020; Published: 23 April 2020 Abstract: Researchers are continuously making progress towards diagnosis and treatment of numerous diseases. However, there are still major issues that are presenting many challenges for current medical diagnosis. On the other hand, DNA nanotechnology has evolved significantly over the last three decades and is highly interdisciplinary. With many potential technologies derived from the field, it is natural to begin exploring and incorporating its knowledge to develop DNA microsystems for biodiagnosis in order to help address current obstacles, such as disease detection and drug resistance. Here, current challenges in disease detection are presented along with standard methods for diagnosis. Then, a brief overview of DNA nanotechnology is introduced along with its main attractive features for constructing biodiagnostic microsystems. Lastly, suggested DNA-based microsystems are discussed through proof-of-concept demonstrations with improvement strategies for standard diagnostic approaches. Keywords: diagnosis; DNA nanotechnology; DNA-based medicine; nucleic acids 1. Introduction Although researchers continuously achieve progress towards the diagnostics and treatment of numerous diseases, there are still major issues that challenge medical procedures and methods [1]. Emerging bionanotechnology, in particular DNA nanotechnology, can be incorporated in microsystems for biomedicine to help overcome current obstacles, such as disease detection.