How can surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy improve diagnostics for bacterial infections?

Abstract

Currently, bacterial infection is still a major global health issue. Although antibiotics have been widely used to control and treat bacterial infections, the overuse and misuse of antibiotics have led to widespread antimicrobial resistance among many bacterial pathogens. Therefore, reducing bacterial infections through rapid and accurate diagnostics is crucial for global public health. Traditional microbiological detection methods have limitations such as poor selectivity, high complexity, and excessive time consumption, highlighting the urgent need to develop efficient and sensitive bacterial diagnosis methods. Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), as an emerging technique in clinical settings, holds a promising future for bacterial identification due to its rapid, nondestructive, and cost-effective nature. This invited special report discusses the application of SERS technology in bacterial diagnosis using pure culture, clinical samples, and single-cell Raman analysis. Current challenges and prospects of the technology are also addressed with in-depth discussion.

Document Type

Journal Article

Volume

20

Issue

7

Funding Information

Research Foundation for Advanced Talents of Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital (KY012023293) / Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (2022A1515220023)

PubMed ID

39962745

School

Centre for Precision Health / School of Medical and Health Sciences

Copyright

subscription content

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Identifier

Liang Wang: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5339-7484

Comments

Tang, J. W., Wen, X. R., Liao, Y. W., & Wang, L. (2025). How can surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy improve diagnostics for bacterial infections?. Nanomedicine, 20(7), 701-706. https://doi.org/10.1080/17435889.2025.2466419

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Link to publisher version (DOI)

10.1080/17435889.2025.2466419