In This Issue

The reliable detection and identification of biomolecules is essential for many bioanalytical applications, such as medical diagnostics and toxin detection in food.Due to its fingerprint specificity and trace-level sensitivity, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is an attractive tool.In this issue, Jürgen Popp and co-workers from Jena, Germany, review progress and trends of SERS and its combination with microfluidic devices for online monitoring and scanning probe microscopy, also known as tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS).They discuss a variety of bioanalytical applications, including detection of nucleic acids, applications for studies on cells, SERS as a readout technique for immunoassays and detection methods for molecules in body fluids. . . . . . . . .