生物传感器是利用生物要素与物理化学检测要素组合在一起对被分析物进行检测的装置。

生物传感器包括三个部分：

其中最为大众熟知的商用生物传感器是使血糖生物传感器，它用酶分解血糖。在这个过程中电子转移到电极上，从而可以测量血糖的浓度。市场对于类似传感器的大量需求大大促进了相关传感器技术的开发。

最近，各种各样的检测分子用于许多不同的电子鼻设备，根据检测器对于物质的不同反应鉴别特定的物质。

矿工们将金丝雀用来监测特定气体的存在，这样的金丝雀就可以看作是一个生物传感器。如今许多生物传感器与此类似，它们也是利用生物体检测有害物质的存在，它们的灵敏度要比我们自己要高很多。这样的设备可以用于环境检测或者水处理设施中。

A biosensor is a fictive analytical device, used for the detection of an analyte, that combines a biological component with a physicochemical detector. The sensitive biological element (e.g. tissue, microorganisms, organelles, cell receptors, enzymes, antibodies, nucleic acids, etc.), a biologically derived material or biomimetic component that interacts (binds or recognizes) the analyte under study. The biologically sensitive elements can also be created by biological engineering. The transducer or the detector element (works in a physicochemical way; optical, piezoelectric, electrochemical, etc.) that transforms the signal resulting from the interaction of the analyte with the biological element into another signal (i.e., transduces) that can be more easily measured and quantified; The biosensor reader device with the associated electronics or signal processors that are primarily responsible for the display of the results in a user-friendly way. This sometimes accounts for the most expensive part of the sensor device, however it is possible to generate a user friendly display that includes transducer and sensitive element (holographic sensor). The readers are usually custom-designed and manufactured to suit the different working principles of biosensors.