Student honoured for nanotechnology research

Swinburne PhD student Daniel White has been awarded a Nanotechnology Victoria Postgraduate prize for his work in developing tiny sensors that have the potential to improve the quality of life - and even save lives - in very different ways.

In nanotechnology language Daniel's research focuses on establishing surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) as a sensitive chemical detection technique. This involves developing robust miniaturised probes for applications in glucose sensing for diabetics and also monitoring water supplies - especially when the threat of intentional and accidental contamination might be suspected.

"We already know of a few applications but I'm sure there are many more out there," he says. "I'm particularly interested in the medical uses. There are other labs that have done work on using SERS to detect cancer cells and monitor drugs and toxins. Glucose is the target at the moment because of the whole diabetes problem."

Daniel's supervisor, Dr Paul Stoddart, says that although the SERS effect has been known for about 30 years, it is only recently that developments in nanotechnology have led to the economical production of SERS probes for large-scale sensing applications outside the lab.

"Daniel's work has recently taken a big step forward with his development of a new technique for integrating the SERS probes into traditional Raman systems. This is a significant achievement," Dr Stoddart says.

Further information about SERS applications can be found in an article titled 'Applications for surfaced enhanced Raman spectroscopy' in the August/September issue of What's New in LAB Technology.