Analysis of microorganisms, chlorinated hydrocarbons and hyaluronic acid gel using Raman based optofluidic techniques and SERS

We report on the development of a set of Raman based techniques to monitor a large variety of biological and chemical analytes, such as various microorganisms, gels of hyaluronic acid and selected halogenated hydrocarbons using Raman spectroscopy, Raman tweezers and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). We analyzed individual microbial cells with Raman tweezers to provide solutions for fast and label-free identification of specific bacterial or yeast species. We designed an optofluidic SERS platform for quantification of sub-millimolar concentrations of halogenated environmental pollutants such as 1,2,3-trichloropropane and chloroform. We also examined the gel structure of hyaluronic acid by Raman spectroscopy.