The purpose of this symposium is to discuss surface coatings that can be used to address the issue of non-specific binding in biosensors. The symposium will be of interest to both academics and industrialists. While a number of international conferences are dedicated to biosensors, non-specific binding is only dealt with in an ad hoc manner. Considering that this phenomenon will ultimately dictate whether a biosensor can be commercialized or not, it is clear that this symposium dedicated to the subject is both timely and warranted. The symposium will be of interest to any researcher working in the fields of drug discovery, clinical diagnostics and environmental analysis, including homeland security and defence sectors.