University of Southampton receives award on the 40th anniversary of the invention of SERS

Southampton, England--The University of Southampton’s Chemistry department has been awarded a National Chemical Landmark blue plaque by the Royal Society of Chemistry to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the discovery of the effect that led to surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS).

The discovery was made in the 1970s by professors Martin Fleischmann, Patrick Hendra, and Jim McQuillan at the University of Southampton. The team found that by roughening the metal surface upon which the molecules they were examining had been placed, they could increase the spectroscopic signal by a million times. Since this discovery, there have been thousands of papers published on SERS, as well as countless uses of it across industries and around the world. For example, it is used in forensic analysis, drug detection, and establishing the origins of works of art.

"SERS is arguably the most sensitive method of analysis on surfaces that anyone has ever come up with," says Hendra. "However, at the time we had no idea how important it would become beyond the academic world, or the vast range of applications that would be developed."

In 2013, Sumeet Mahajan, Senior Lecturer in Life Science Interface at the University of Southampton, is taking SERS to the next level, using the technique to advance stem-cell therapy, using gold nanoparticles as probes that enter the stem cells. “This makes us able to detect if drugs are reaching cells correctly, and to detect abnormalities within cells on a molecular level," says Mahajan.

The results of Mahajan’s work, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), have been published in Nano Letters. He is collaborating with major pharmaceutical companies to further develop the work, which could lead to better drugs.

The acknowledgement of SERS’ contribution to science was recognized on 24 July, 2013 at a symposium and plaque-unveiling ceremony.