US Patent 7880876 - Detection of E. Coli bacterium with nanorod array

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7880876.html

This patent from the University of Georgia Research Foundation teaches improving data obtained from SERS by using an array of nanorods. Claim 1 reads:

1. A method of detecting at least one bacterium in a sample, comprising:

exposing a substrate having an array of nanorods on the substrate to the sample, wherein a tilt angle (β) between an individual nanorod and the substrate surface is about 0° to about 90°, and wherein the sample includes at least one of a first strain of Escherichia coli and a second strain of Escherichia coli; and

measuring a surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) spectrum, wherein a SERS spectrum of the array of nanorods and the first strain of Escherichia coli is detectably different than a SERS spectrum of the array of nanorods and the second strain of Escherichia coli.