Abstract

Enhancing Metabolomics: Shining Light on Metabolism

Roy Goodacre, Professor, University of Manchester

Raman spectroscopy has a rich history for the analysis of chemical species. However, whilst Raman spectroscopy offers unique specificity for molecular characterization the signal is usually rather weak. Fortunately this signal can be significantly enhanced using surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). SERS involves coupling the analytes with a metal surface (roughed at the nano-scale and hence why colloids are used) during the Raman acquisition. Using judicious design of experiments we have recently demonstrated excellent detection and quantification for a range of drugs and biomarkers using SERS [Levene et al. (2012) Anal. Chem. 84, 7899-7905; Mabbott et al. (2013) Anal. Chem. 85, 923-931; Cowcher et al. (2013) Anal. Chem. 85, 3297-3302]. In this presentation we have further developed our SERS with chemometric and machine learning methods for multiplexed quantification of drugs and their metabolites [Alharbi et al. (2014) Analyst 139, 4820-4827] as well as developing LC-SERS for quantification of purines [Cowcher et al. (2014) Anal. Chem. 85, 9977-9984].