The conventional methodologies used for the detection of human papillomavirus (HPV) present actually robust and reproducible advantages. However, at the same time, they involve complex protocols that sometimes are difficult to popularize. Over the first half of XX century, the adequate treatment of complex and delicate processes from a simple instrumental base seemed a fundamental and intrinsic contradiction. However, interdisciplinary trends have allowed the manipulation of tissues, proteins, and nucleic acids through innovative increasingly smaller devices. The proper diagnosis of HPV has seen great advances since biosensor researchers are employing its virus strains as models to study the interactions between the biorecognition element and the transducer. Additionally, all recent improvements and trends that material sciences, biotechnology, and data processing scientists excel for biosensors can be applied for the HPV detection platforms. In this review, we highlight the recent trends on materials, nanomaterials, and transducers for the specific detection and differentiation of HPV strains. The most influential methods for the detection and identification of these papillomaviruses include optical, electrochemical, and piezoelectric transducers; we will visit their sensibility and advantages. Additionally, we highlight the factors that contributed to the increasing importance of these biodevices as potential substitutes to conventional diagnostic methods.

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Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are natural compounds isolated from a wide variety of organisms that include microorganisms, insects, amphibians, plants, and humans. These biomolecules are considered as part of the innate immune system and are known as natural antibiotics, presenting a broad spectrum of activities against bacteria, fungi, and/or viruses. Technological innovations have enabled AMPs to be utilized for the development of novel biodetection devices. Advances in nanotechnology, such as the synthesis of nanocomposites, nanoparticles, and nanotubes have permitted the development of nanostructured platforms with biocompatibility and greater surface areas for the immobilization of biocomponents, arising as additional tools for obtaining more efficient biosensors. Diverse AMPs have been used as biological recognition elements for obtaining biosensors with more specificity and lower detection limits, whose analytical response can be evaluated through electrochemical impedance and fluorescence spectroscopies. AMP-based biosensors have shown potential for applications such as supplementary tools for conventional diagnosis methods of microorganisms. In this review, conventional methods for microorganism diagnosis as well new strategies using AMPs for the development of impedimetric and fluorescent biosensors are highlighted. AMP-based biosensors show promise as methods for diagnosing infections and bacterial contaminations as well as applications in quality control for clinical analyses and microbiological laboratories.

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