Developing innovative efficient and sensitive spectroscopic and optical techniques for studying biomedically relevant molecules, structures and processes in vitro and in vivo is a field of rapidly growing interest. This symposium book covers novel and exciting approaches in biomedical spectroscopy. Several chapters deal with infrared and Raman spectroscopy. These complimentary vibrational spectroscopic techniques are capable of monitoring molecular structures as well as structural changes. Such studies are of interest for understanding diseases at a molecular level as well as for developing techniques for efficient early diagnosis based on molecular structural information. The chapters demonstrate also applications vibrational spectroscopy in proteomics and the characterization of micro organisms. The second section of the book introduces surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), demonstrates the application of the effect in the biomedical field and develops the concept of multifunctional nanosensors. The measurement of intrinsic optical signals from biological objects such as nerve tissue are discussed in the next section of the book. Chapters deal also with Coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) and fluorescence fluctuation spectroscopy. Other chapters illustrate how photons of very different energies, in the Terahertz and in the ultra violet range, can be used to retrieve molecular structural information from native biomolecules. The electrical properties of protein molecules adsorbed onto a gold substrate are studied by using a scanning Kelvin nanoprobe in a microarray format. The final chapters in the book demonstrate the powerful combination of different spectroscopic techniques for the characterization of biomolecules as well as native and engineered biomaterials. These chapters combine information from Raman and Inelastic Neutron Scattering, optical absorbance and energy dispersive X-ray analysis, positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS), 1H NMR, and 129Xe NMR X-ray diffraction and fluorescence resonance energy transfer.

Almost 30 years after the first reports on surface-enhanced Raman signals, the phenomenon of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is now well established. SERS gained particular interest after single-molecule Raman spectroscopy had been demonstrated. This book summarizes and discusses present theoretical approaches that explain the phenomenon of SERS and reports on new and exciting experiments and applications of the fascinating spectroscopic effect.