Abstract
Optical biosensors have begun to move from the laboratory to the point of use. This trend will be accelerated by new concepts for molecular recognition, integration of microfluidics and optics, simplified fabrication technologies, improved approaches to biosensor system integration, and dramatically increased awareness of the applicability of sensor technology to improve public health and environmental monitoring. Examples of innovations are identified that will lead to smaller, faster, cheaper optical biosensor systems with capacity to provide effective and actionable information.