Detecting and imaging biomolecules are important for diagnosis of various diseases, monitoring of bioactivity, and examination of biochemical mechanism. To achieve these purposes, we are now developing nanosensors based on plasmonic nanomaterials. Metallic nanomaterials such as gold and silver nanoparticles show unique optical phenomenon in irradiation of light. This optical phenomenon can be utilized as a useful technology to detect and identify changes of biomolecules in our bodies. For instance, we detect subtle change in an optical property of nanomaterials and monitor the activity of target biomolecules by the optical changes. In addition, we investigate the amplification of Raman scattering signal derived from biochemical molecules by electromagnetic field enhancement at nanostructures, thereby identifying unknown biomolecules. Through these studies, we are developing sensitive and efficient techniques to recognize useful biomarkers such as proteins and viruses.

-“Protein Quantification and Imaging by Surface‐Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy and Similarity Analysis”, Advanced Science (2020)
-“Autoenhanced Raman Spectroscopy via Plasmonic Trapping for Molecular Sensing”, Analytical Chemistry (2016)
-“Selective and sensitive detection of metal ions by plasmonic resonance energy transfer-based nanospectroscopy”, Nature Nanotechnology (2009)