Raman Spectroscopy for Biomedical Measurements

Raman spectroscopy is an optical technique that utilizes light-matter interaction to study the chemical composition of a sample. A laser is used to excite molecular vibrations in a sample and the scattered light from the sample is collected and analyzed. Small shift in the wavelength of light determines the material that is being illuminated by the laser.

In our studies, we use Raman spectroscopy as a detection technique for monitoring chemical variations in biological samples or as an analytical technique to monitor changes in surface chemistry. Below is an example image showing optical microscope images and the Raman spectra for two different cell types, an osteoblast (bone cell) and an adipocyte (fat cell). Chemical differences in these two cell types results in different Raman spectra.

Publications from this Project:

1.         Roberts, J. G., Moody, B. P., McCarty, G. S. & Sombers, L. A. Specific Oxygen-Containing Functional Groups on the Carbon Surface Underlie an Enhanced Sensitivity to Dopamine at Electrochemically Pretreated Carbon Fiber Microelectrodes. Langmuir (2010).

2.         Moody, B. et al. In Situ Monitoring of Adipogenesis with Human-Adipose-Derived Stem Cells Using Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy. Applied Spectroscopy 64, 1227-1233.

3.         Moody, B., Leotaud, J. & McCarty, G. S. Using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy to probe for genetic markers on single-stranded DNA. Journal of Biomedical Optics 15 (2010).

4.         Moody, B. & McCarty, G. Statistically Significant Raman Detection of Midsequence Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms. Analytical Chemistry 81, 2013-2016 (2009).

5.         Moody, B. & McCarty, G. S. Solid state nanogaps for differential measurements of molecular properties. Applied Physics Letters 94, 122104 (2009).

6.         Takmakov, P. et al. Carbon Microelectrodes with a Renewable Surface. Analytical Chemistry 82, 2020-2028 (2010).