Jürgen Popp, winner of this year’s Ellis R. Lippincott Award, discusses the regulatory, cost, and workflow hurdles of moving Raman spectroscopy into hospitals.
News|Videos|November 12, 2026
IRDG Christmas Meeting to Spotlight Biomedical Vibrational Spectroscopy in London
Author(s)Will Wetzel, Spectroscopy Staff
The Infrared and Raman Discussion Group’s 238th meeting on December 21 will feature the IRDG-Coblentz Lecture, two award presentations, and talks spanning clinical Raman, SERS, and ultrafast spectroscopy.
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The Infrared and Raman Discussion Group (IRDG) will hold its 238th meeting, the annual Christmas Meeting, on Monday, December 21, 2026, at King’s College London on the Strand.1 The one-day program, which opens with registration and coffee at 10:00 am, brings together infrared (IR) and Raman researchers from academia, national laboratories, and industry.1
The morning program opens with an IRDG-Coblentz Lecture. This lecture will be delivered by Rohith Reddy of the University of Houston at 10:30 am local time. Reddy was the winner of the 2026 Clara Craver Award, and he was recognized for this accomplishment at the 2025 SciX Conference in Covington, Kentucky.2 Reddy’s
Throughout the morning technical sessions, clinical translation will be a recurring topic touched upon. Jemma Kerns of Lancaster University will discuss developing Raman spectroscopy as a community-based clinical tool for bone health monitoring, and Siva Umapathy of the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, India, will close the session with a talk on the challenges of applying Raman spectroscopy to biomedical diagnosis.1
At 11:20 am local time, Amy Colleran of the University of Liverpool, winner of the Martin & Willis Prize, will present her work analyzing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) with surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) by bubbling them into colloidal silver or gold nanoparticles.1,3 Colleran’s work was a recent focus in an
The morning session will conclude with the presentation of the Norman Sheppard Award to Michael Chesters, followed by the group’s Christmas lunch at 1:00 pm.
Meanwhile, the afternoon program will get into the holiday spirit and allow for more socializing. Duncan Graham of the University of Strathclyde will present “Revolving Doors and Christmas Encores - Not again!” at 2:50 pm, followed by Andrew Whitley of HORIBA (USA) and guest performers with “SERS and the Holy Fail.”1 Immediately following these two events will be the IRDG annual general meeting (AGM) that will start at 4:00 pm, after which attendees can join a drinks reception and poster session.1
To learn more about the upcoming IRDG annual general meeting, you can find all registration information at the following link:
References
- Infrared and Raman Discussion Group, IRDG 238 Christmas Meeting 2026. Infrared and Raman Discussion Group, 2026.
https://www.irdg.org/meeting/irdg-238-christmas-meeting-2026 (accessed November 11, 2026). - Reddy, R.; Wetzel, W. Improving Resolution and Throughput in Tissue Analysis. Spectroscopy Online, 2026.
https://www.spectroscopyonline.com/view/improving-resolution-and-throughput-in-tissue-analysis (accessed November 11, 2026). - Colleran, A.; Wetzel, W. Detecting Volatile Compounds with Colloidal Nanoparticles and Portable Raman Spectroscopy. Spectroscopy Online, 2026.
https://www.spectroscopyonline.com/view/detecting-volatile-compounds-with-colloidal-nanoparticles-and-portable-raman-spectroscopy (accessed November 11, 2026).
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