Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) is a powerful bio-analytical technique that combines the excellent chemical specificity typical of Raman spectra with the high sensitivity provided by the enhancement of the signal due to the presence of suitable noble metal nanostructures.

In fact, when a molecules lies on, or very close to, the surface of such a kind of nonmaterial its Raman signal can be enhanced up to 10^14 times allowing the detection of single molecules.

Labion, in collaboration with several partners, is working at the development of new, SERS based, diagnostic kits for the ultrasensitive detection of biomarkers related to cancer and neurodegenerative disease. These new kit will allow a better stratification of patient and a better monitoring of the progress of each patient in the general framework of the more and more personalized medicine.

In particular, the work done until now has been focused on the detection of Wilm’s tumor (WT1) gene a proto-oncogene recently proposed as possible biomarker to follow the progression of Acute Myeloid Leukemia in a phase named Minimal Residual Disease that is responsible to the high number of relapses that characterize this type of cancer.

Thanks to our know how on nanoparticles synthesis and bioconjugation we manage to detect the target sequence at low picomolar concentration and now we are extending our methods for the simultaneous detection of multiple target sequences.