Evidence

Published results, not testimonials.

The practice is new; the science behind it is not. Below are three peer-reviewed SERS results from my own work, each framed as representative published work and a transferable capability — never as a client engagement.

Selective detection of a target in a complex biofluid

Problem: Quantifying a low-abundance neurotransmitter (dopamine) in a complex biological matrix where interferents dominate.
Approach: An Fe₃O₄/Ag magneto-plasmonic nanocomposite surface-modified with a dopamine-selective ligand: magnetic capture isolates the target from the matrix, and the silver provides the SERS enhancement.
Published result: Fast, selective dopamine determination in artificial cerebrospinal fluid and mouse striatum. Anal. Chem. 2014, 86, 2939 · doi:10.1021/ac500394g ↗
Transferable capability: Designing magnetic pre-concentration plus SERS assays for selective detection of a specific analyte in a difficult matrix.

Label-free protein quantification directly in blood

Problem: Measuring a protein biomarker in whole blood without labels or extensive sample preparation.
Approach: Magnetically-assisted SERS (MA-SERS) using an Fe₃O₄@Ag nanocomposite for magnetic capture and label-free readout.
Published result: Label-free determination of human immunoglobulin G (IgG) in blood. Anal. Chem. 2014, 86, 11107 · doi:10.1021/ac503347h ↗
Transferable capability: Label-free biomarker quantification in whole blood via magnetic SERS.

Multiplexed cancer-marker detection in whole blood

Problem: Measuring two cancer markers simultaneously in whole human blood.
Approach: An Fe₂O₃@Ag nanocomposite in a competitive, multiplexed MA-SERS format.
Published result: Multiplex competitive analysis of HER2 and EpCAM in whole human blood. Applied Materials Today 2018, 13, 166 · doi:10.1016/j.apmt.2018.08.016 ↗
Transferable capability: Designing multiplexed SERS assays that read several targets from one complex sample.

Techniques & platforms

The toolkit behind the results.

SERS substrates & surfaces

Colloidal & solid SERS substrates
Magneto-plasmonic nanocomposites (Fe₃O₄/Ag, Fe₂O₃/Ag)
Surface functionalisation for selective capture
Substrate uniformity & reproducibility assessment

Measurement

Confocal Raman & mapping
Magnetically-assisted SERS (MA-SERS)
Magnetic pre-concentration from complex matrices
Label-free & multiplexed readouts

Chemometrics & ML

Pre-processing (baseline, SNV/EMSC, normalisation)
PLS, PLS-DA & interpretable models
Leakage-free, group-aware validation
Outlier detection (Hotelling T², Q residuals)

The full publication record is on ORCID and Google Scholar.

Have a target in a matrix that fights back?

Selective capture, pre-concentration, and leakage-free readout are the recurring themes above. If that sounds like your problem, let's talk.

Request a scoping call See the packages