Self-calibrating SERS substrate for quantitative live-cell
This technology improves a laser-based technique called surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) that can identify chemicals inside living cells without attaching any dye or label to them. The key innovation is using a built-in signal generated by the metal nanostructure itself—called electronic Raman scattering—as a real-time calibration reference, solving a long-standing reliability problem in the field. Cells are grown directly on a specially engineered nanostructured substrate, measurements are taken across the sample, and the data is then processed using statistical methods to extract meaningful biological information. This makes the technique significantly more reproducible and trustworthy for analyzing live biological systems.
What you could build
A research instrument platform or consumable substrate kit sold to pharmaceutical companies and academic life-science labs for label-free, real-time chemical profiling of living cells—useful in drug screening, cell biology research, and disease diagnostics.
Who in Virginia should care
Life sciences and biotech research institutions in Virginia, including academic medical centers and NIH-adjacent contract research organizations in the Northern Virginia/DC corridor, would be natural early customers or collaborators.
Readiness: Lab validated
Concept — described but not yet demonstrated. Lab validated — supported by experimental results in the patent. Prototype likely — the text describes a built, working embodiment.
Readiness is inferred from the patent text, not from a lab visit.
The record
- Inventors
- Wei ZHOU, Wonil NAM
- Filed
- Patent pending — filed September 5, 2023
- Status
- Application
- Publication number
- US20240142382A1
Ready to talk?
Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties handles licensing for this technology.
Prosim summaries are generated from public patent text and are not legal advice.