Clustered
regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats, CRISPR,
has recently emerged as a powerful molecular biosensing tool for nucleic
acids and other biomarkers due to its unique properties such as collateral
cleavage nature, room temperature reaction conditions, and high target-recognition
specificity. Numerous platforms have been developed to leverage the
CRISPR assay for ultrasensitive biosensing applications. However,
to be considered as a new gold standard, several key challenges for
CRISPR molecular biosensing must be addressed. In this paper, we briefly
review the history of biosensors, followed by the current status of
nucleic acid-based detection methods. We then discuss the current
challenges pertaining to CRISPR-based nucleic acid detection, followed
by the recent breakthroughs addressing these challenges. We focus
upon future advancements required to enable rapid, simple, sensitive,
specific, multiplexed, amplification-free, and shelf-stable CRISPR-based
molecular biosensors.