An interdisciplinary approach employing functionalized nanoparticles and ultrasensitive spectroscopic techniques is reported here to track the molecular changes in early stage of malignancy. Melanoma tissue tracking at molecular level using both labelled and unlabelled silver and gold nanoparticles has been achieved using surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) technique. We used skin tissue from ex vivo mice with induced melanoma. Raman and SERS

We employed vibrational FT-IR and FT-Raman spectroscopy as rapid, sensitive and efficient techniques for qualitative and semi-quantitative analysis of the pentacyclic triterpene based natural products as highly effective anticancer agents obtained from the Betula pendula Roth birch bark. Nine bark samples from the abundant forest flora of Apuseni Mountains, Romania were Raman evaluated concerning their triterpenes content. Additionally, three different

A cultural heritage canvas from the early 19th century, painted by the Vaccaro brothers for the church of Niscemi, province of Caltanissetta, Sicily, was analyzed using Fourier transform (FT)-Raman, attenuated total reflectance-FT-infrared and surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy. The painting, still used in religious rites related to the Easter mass ('la calata da tila'), depicts the scene of the Crucifixion and is executed in a