10130783Spectroscopic mapping of SERS substrate as part of quality control to ensure diagnostic reliabilityClosedCollaborative R&DInnovate UKRaman spectroscopy is routinely used in advanced laboratories in academia, environmental testing and pharmaceutical development. Deploying Raman spectroscopy currently requires a facility with highly trained professional laboratory staff capable of managing large and complex systems. As a result, Raman spectroscopy is not as widely deployed as it could be. The opportunity to deploy Raman spectroscopy beyond traditional settings is about to be transformed: The size of the spectrometers required has reduced to <10% of what they were 5 years ago and spectrometers are now smaller than a shoe box. The cost of lasers and detectors is declining significantly, resulting in spectrometers that are a fraction of the cost (for a given capability) that they would have been 5 years ago. In addition, more sophisticated methods of data analysis allow for the extraction of greater insight from the output of these spectrometers. As a result of these advances, the price/performance of Raman spectrometers has been transformed. Importantly, the reliability, deployability and ease-of-use has similarly improved. This creates the possibility of a low-cost diagnostic that could be easily placed in a central laboratory, and even at point-of-care/point-of-need ('PoC'/'PoN') at Primary Care level (GP, Pharmacy), to address routine clinical questions and provide near instantaneous answers. In addition Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy ('SERS') has been evidenced to be able to detect disease in urine that would otherwise require blood tests or invasive procedures (e.g., cystoscopy). Specifically this gives the opportunity to: * Conduct analysis on urine samples rather than blood, avoiding the time and monetary costs of taking blood samples, transporting and disposing of them, and avoiding associated infection risk and patient discomfort. * Extend the range of tests that are available 'near-patient', accelerating diagnostic workflows and reducing burdens on Central Laboratories. * Get a result at the point-of-care (less than 3 minutes, i.e., within the time of a typical consultation). * Reduce the time to speciate bacteria from ~2 days to below 3 minutes, allowing the immediate prescription of a narrow-spectrum antibiotic (if appropriate) or to avoid use of antimicrobials if they would be innefective. SERS is used in clinical R&D facilities (such as that of Veritie), but is not yet in commercial deployment. One of the barriers is that the production of the SERS substrate requires quality control. This project aims to develop a Quality Assurance methodology to assess the level of variation in commercial SERS substates and accept it for use in clinical diagnostic devices.