Nanostructures for Raman Spectroscopy Enabled Wastewater-Based Epidemiology – Stanford Dionne Lab, Summer ’25
Wastewater-Based Epidemiology is a crucial technique for monitoring of viral deseases. Current WBE methods are label-based and rely on genotype information, which makes them unsuitable for bacteria. Previous work proved Raman Spectroscopy + ML classification to be an effective, label-free bacteria detection method. However, detecting low concentrations of bacteria in a backgroundy media like wastewater requires additional techniques:
- Surface Enhancement: the use of nanostructures that resonate with light, enhancing the signal at the wavelengths of interest;
- DEP Enrichment: using Dielectrophoresis, we concentrate bacteria on the detection area to boost their signal.
My work focused on developing a conductive plasmonic metasurface with tunable resonance modes that can enhance Raman signal while acting as a DEP electrode, effectively combining both techniques.