Enhanced Plasmonics LLC (EP), a spin off company from Northwestern Universityâs Chemistry Department, is involved in the manufacturing and production of commercial Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) substrates. SERS is a powerful analytical technique used to identify the presence and concentration of a wide range of pathogens including bacteria, glucose, biomolecules, explosives and biological/chemical warfare agents. Although SERS has shown great potential, it has has not yet been widely adopted due to its high production costs. EP is developing a cost-efficient fabrication technique to promote the growth and adoption of the SERS analytical method across many scientific fields, making the product much more attractive to users in many science and biotechnology sectors. Using breakthroughs in analytical techniques and machine learning, EP has developed an easy-to-use handheld device and platform to be used for instant, lab-quality analysis of pharmaceuticals. The device utilizes Raman spectroscopy by analyzing the âchemical fingerprintâ of a substance, a tagless and completely non-destructive approach that takes advantage of the vast amount of information found in the optical response of a complex mixture. The device measures the metrics for quality SERS substrates, which includes the enhancement increase in Raman signal; reproducibility & consistency between the substrates; and robustness towards its expected abuse in a given working environm
