After revolutionizing the field of electro-optic displays, liquid crystals (LCs) are emerging as functional soft materials with wide-ranging biomedical implications. Integrating smart sensor designs with label-free imaging presents exciting opportunities in diagnostics. In this Perspective, we present an elegant collage of the key findings that demonstrate the utility of LC biosensors in diagnosing a disease or infection in clinical samples, cellular microenvironments, or bodily fluids. We emphasize the currently prevalent diagnostic techniques and the advances made using LCs in achieving greater sensitivity, a simplified strategy, multiplexed detection, and so on. We collate the landmark contributions in translational research in LC-based diagnostics. We believe that developing LC-based biosensors presents a new therapeutic window in point-of-care diagnostics.

Aqueous interfaces of stimuli-responsive, thermotropic nematic liquid crystals (LC) have been utilized in the design of biosensing platforms for a range of analytes. Owing to the orientational changes in LC, these interfaces can easily report aptamer-target binding events at the LC-aqueous interface. We demonstrate a label-free, simple and robust technique for the detection of Ochratoxin A (OTA) using aptamer as the recognition probe. The self-assembly of CTAB (cetyltrimethylammonium bromide; cationic surfactant) at aqueous-LC interface gives a homeotropic orientation of LC. In presence of negatively charged OTA specific aptamer, aptamer forms a complex with CTAB. Formation of aptamer-CTAB complex results in ordering transition of LCs to planar/tilted. In presence of OTA, OTA forms a strong and stable G-quadruplex structure of aptamer that results in the redistribution of CTAB at LC-aqueous interface and leads to homeotropic orientation of LC. The designed LC aptasensor exhibits a detection limit of 0.1 nM. We observed that the sensitivity of LC aptasensor was affected by the pH and ionic strength. In addition, we demonstrated the applicability of the designed LC aptasensor for the detection of OTA in tap water and apple juice. This approach offers advantages over the conventional detection methods in terms of fabrication, ease of operation, and analysis.