Prospects for point-of-care pathogen diagnostics using surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) has enabled the detection of pathogens and disease markers at extremely low levels. This review examines the potential impact of SERS in addressing unmet needs in pathogen diagnostics both in a traditional clinical setting and in the point of care (POC) arena. It begins by describing the strengths and weaknesses of today's diagnostics technologies in order to set a contextual stage for an overview which highlights a few of the many recent developments using SERS in biodefense, human and animal health, and monitoring food and water safety. These sections are followed by discussions of the challenges for the translation of these developments to POC settings, including the performance attributes and metrics for quantification of analytical and clinical figures of merit (e.g., limit of detection and clinical accuracy), and the pathways for large-scale test validation and the build-out of instrumentation and tests kits for POC deployment.