Recently the word "ENVIRONMENT" has been acquiring a broader meaning. Prevention, monitoring, and depuration are now focused not only on the chemical detection of air, water and soil pollutants but also on the health of the ecosystem, quality of life, including not only man but all living beings clinical diagnostics and food safety, industrial activities and products, effects from chemical, biological and physical agents. In this sense the need for controls of such a complex ENVIRONMENT reflects the request for an increased measurement ability, mainly in terms of number of analyses and costs, but also in terms of knowledge of the relationship between causes and effects. For instance, effects of radiations from electromagnetic fields on animals, cell metabolism, genes and proteins represent a relevant topic which is still to be understood and studied in its many aspects. Genetically modified organisms (GMO) and microorganisms (GMMO), for new processes and products in the field of agriculture, food and therapy (new drugs and vaccines), represent new challenges for the sustainable progress of mankind. However, they have to be well known and controlled, to rule out their possible negative effect on health and biodiversity. For these reasons, the use of sensor-based analytical methods, originally focused on chemical and biochemical tests, is gaining increasing interest in the fields of environmental toxicity testing, for ecosystem monitoring as well as testing of crops and foods of animal origin, clinical diagnosis and therapy.
The increased interest in sensor–based techniques is proven by the significant number of both scientific papers and registered patents on this subject. Multidisciplinarity between chemistry, material sciences, biochemistry, molecular biology, physics, m-electronic technologies, and engineering has created important new ideas in several research fields, including biosensing, and remarkable results for improving quality of life on our planet can be expected. For these reasons, the workshop chairs, the scientific and the local organizing committees are certain that the workshop will be a successful occasion for researchers to meet and generate new ideas and relevant results. Young researchers are encouraged to attend in order to contribute  their enthusiasm and new ideas to the biosensing field. For this purpose,   travel awards are being made available from sponsors.

Optrode, electrode, acoutrode based biosensors, Oriented and/or Reversible Immobilization of Genetically Modified Molecules, Molecular recognition, Biomimetic, Aptamers, Receptors,
Immunoassay, Immunosensors, Electronic/Bioelectronic Noses,
Novel affinity-based biosensors,
Enzyme-biosensors,
Photosynthesis, Photosynthetic biosensors,
New amplification strategies,
Flow Injection-based systems,
Biochips, m-arrays, m-fluidics, Lab on a chip,  
m-Analytical Biosensors, m-Total Analysis Systems,
Environmental bioanalysis,
Clinical Analysis,
Metabolic Biosensors,
DNA chips,
GM(M)O,
Protein chips.