Applicabilityofguidedmoderesonantstructurestotunableopticalfilteringandsensingisdemonstratedusingnematicliquidcrystals.Asasensor,aminimumrefractiveindexdetectivityof10-5isdemonstratedwhileasatunablefilter,tunabilityrangeoffewtensofnanometerswith2-nmbandwidthispresented.Theoptimumdesignisachievedbymaximizingtheevanescentfieldregionintheanalytewhichmaximizestheoverlapintegral.Thedevicecanbeoperatedinreflectionortransmissionmodesatnormalincidence.Itcanalsobeoperatedatasinglewavelengthbymeasuringtheangularprofileofthelightbeam.