The impacts of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic highlight the importance of environmental monitoring to inform public health safety. Wastewater based epidemiology (WBE) has drawn interest as a tool for analysis of biomarkers in wastewater networks. Wide scale implementation of WBE requires a variety of field deployable analytical tools for real-time monitoring. Nanobiotechnology enabled sensing platforms offer potential as biosensors capable of highly efficient and sensitive detection of target analytes. This review provides an overview of the design and working principles of nanobiotechnology enabled biosensors and recent progress on the use of biosensors in detection of biomarkers. In addition, applications of biosensors for analysis of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus are highlighted as they relate to the potential expanded use of biosensors for WBE-based monitoring. Finally, we discuss the opportunities and challenges in future applications of biosensors in WBE for effective monitoring and investigation of public health threats.

持续的冠状病毒大流行的影响凸显了环境监测对于告知公共卫生安全的重要性。基于废水的流行病学 (WBE) 作为分析废水网络中生物标志物的工具引起了人们的兴趣。 WBE 的大规模实施需要各种可现场部署的分析工具来进行实时监控。纳米生物技术支持的传感平台具有作为生物传感器的潜力，能够高效、灵敏地检测目标分析物。本综述概述了纳米生物技术生物传感器的设计和工作原理，以及使用生物传感器检测生物标志物的最新进展。此外，还强调了生物传感器在严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒 2 (SARS-CoV-2) 病毒分析中的应用，因为它们与生物传感器在基于 WBE 的监测中的潜在扩展使用有关。最后，我们讨论了生物传感器在 WBE 中未来应用以有效监测和调查公共卫生威胁的机遇和挑战。