Applications of SERS in biochemical and medical analysis

In this chapter, we describe selected applications of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) for determining various biochemically (especially medically) important species, from ones as simple as basic inorganic species to those as complex as whole microorganisms. We focus on a presentation of SERS analysis of species whose detection and determination of their concentration are important to better understand the mechanism of various biochemical processes, and hence some precise analytical methods to carry out such analysis are actually needed. The basic theoretical background explaining the mechanism of operation of various biochemical SERS sensors will be discussed. Future perspectives in this field will be also presented. We hope that this chapter may be useful for researchers planning to enter this fascinating field