Virtual prototyping of biosensors involving reaction-diffusion phenomena

The topic of this paper is the coupling of different tools developed to promote the interface between electronics and biology and its potential for the design of biosensors. More precisely, we put together existing models of electronic devices, a tool (BB-SPICE) that converts descriptions of biological systems into SPICE models and a new tool developed for the compact modeling of biochemical diffusion. This complete virtual prototyping environment is illustrated on an example: a penicillin sensor. Simulations highlight the most critical features that impact the response of the system and can be used to drive designers' choices.