Pathways in Spectroscopy: Tips on Handling SERS Assays for Researchers

Following the Spring SciX 2026 conference in Exeter, United Kingdom, Spectroscopy spoke with Sian Sloan-Dennison, postdoctoral research associate at the University of Strathclyde, for a “Pathways in Spectroscopy” interview.

In the clip, Sloan-Dennison shares practical career guidance for Ph.D. students working in clinical research settings. She explains that assays requiring high laser power to achieve sufficient sensitivity may benefit from alternative particle choices to improve signal strength. Sloan-Dennison also stresses the importance of securing early access to clinical samples, which are essential for proper assay validation.

Below are her comments in full.

Spectroscopy: When it comes to biological and clinical analysis, what are the current skill gaps that young researchers can help address?

Sian Sloan-Dennison: A big thing to consider is: how safe is your platform? There's lots of different kind hurdles that you have to overcome when building a Raman probe, so you have to know if it's going to be used in accident and emergency departments. That might mean using a very low laser power, so if your assay needs that high laser power to be sensitive, you might want to reconsider trying to build a different sort of particle to give you that increase in signal to begin with. And I think finally, if you can get your hands on clinical samples as early as you can, that'd be really great for validating your assay, and I've done this myself.

We can make fantastic SERS assays and detect lots of clinically relevant biomarkers and buffers great, but as soon as you add a complex environment, you could lose the sensitivity and lose that binding that is vital for your test. By using that complex environment near the start of building that assay, it means that when you move on to clinical applications, you're already there, and you have faith that it's going to work straight away. These are the things that I've encountered as well and in my work, so it'd be really good to tell our Ph.D students as well that this is what we should be thinking of, and it's all really important to look at.

Further Reading

1. Wetzel, W.; Spectroscopy Staff. Previewing Spring SciX 2026. Spectroscopy. Available at: https://www.spectroscopyonline.com/view/previewing-spring-scix-2026 (accessed 2026-05-06).
2. Sloan-Dennison, S. Droplets to Diagnosis: Digital Microfluidic SERS Detection of microRNA-122. Presented at Spring SciX, Exeter, United Kingdom, 2026. Available at: https://rapide-diagnostics.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Spring-SciX-Programme.pdf