Sensors are everywhere in the environment and equipment around us and even within our own bodies; and they are expected to become even more omnipresent! They are the enablers that trigger alarms and processes to keep our world running smoothly, and they conserve resources and assets by managing them more efficiently. In the medical arena sensors are increasingly essential tools in the detection and monitoring of a wide range of conditions. In this symposium we place a special focus on sensors that are enabled by novel measurement physics or chemistry and in particular, by emergent areas of nanotechnology. Specific topics that we would like to consider in this symposium include the following: