Sharma Announced Winner of 2021 Emerging Leader in Molecular Spectroscopy

April 12, 2021 by Kayla Benson

Bhavya Sharma, assistant professor, has been named the winner of the 2021 Emerging Leader in Molecular Spectroscopy Award. The award will be presented to Sharma at the SciX 2021 conference this fall, where she will give a plenary lecture and be honored in an award symposium.

“We would like to extend congratulations to Professor Sharma for winning the 2021 Emerging Leader in Molecular Spectroscopy Award,” said Mike Hennessy Jr., president and CEO of MJH Life Sciences™, the parent company of Spectroscopy®. “Sharma is well deserving of this recognition for all of her excellent work as a molecular spectroscopist. We are proud to honor her with this award at the SciX conference this fall.”

Sharma received her Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh in 2011. She has become a leader in the area of neurochemical detection with various forms of Raman spectroscopy, including surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) and spatially offset Raman spectroscopy. Sharma has developed novel Raman spectroscopy methods for neurological detection, including surface-enhanced spatially offset Raman spectroscopy. Additionally, she is developing methods to demonstrate direct detection of molecules for the first time by combining SERS and multivariate analysis.

Sharma has published 26 papers and has given more than 40 oral and poster presentations at scientific conferences. She is a reviewer for multiple journals and received an Outstanding Reviewer award for the journal Analyst in 2018. As an active member of the Coblentz Society, Sharma has served on multiple award committees and was also a member of the program committee for the OSA Optical Sensors Conference for 2018 and 2019. Sharma has also been active in organizing sessions at various scientific conferences, including Pittcon, the SPIE Defense + Commercial Sensing Symposium, and SciX. 

Selected by an independent scientific committee, the Emerging Leader in Molecular Spectroscopy Award recognizes the achievements and aspirations of a talented young molecular spectroscopist who has made strides early in his or her career toward the advancement of molecular spectroscopy techniques and applications. The winner must be within 10 years of receiving his or her PhD. 

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Sharma Lab Published in Analyst

April 20, 2020 by Kayla Benson

The Sharma Raman lab is an interdisciplinary research group working in the areas of Analytical and Physical Chemistry, Biology, and Materials Science. The group focuses on probing and characterizing the underlying chemistry and physics of biological processes. The long range research goal of the group is the use of innovative Raman spectroscopic methods to create new approaches to understand biology. Specifically, we are developing methods for early detection of disease (both in vitro and in vivo detection), as well as methods for chemical and biological sensing.

The Sharma Lab published their work “Raman spectroscopy and neuroscience: from fundamental understanding to disease diagnostics and imaging” in Analyst. 

Neuroscience would directly benefit from more effective detection techniques, leading to earlier diagnosis of disease. The specificity of Raman spectroscopy is unparalleled, given that a molecular fingerprint is attained for each species. It also allows for label-free detection with relatively inexpensive instrumentation, minimal sample preparation, and rapid sample analysis. This review summarizes Raman spectroscopy-based techniques that have been used to advance the field of neuroscience in recent years.

Sharma Lab Published in Analytical Chemistry and Analyst

February 1, 2020 by Kayla Benson

The Sharma Raman Lab published their work “Direct Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopic Detection of Cortisol at Physiological Concentrations” in Analytical Chemistry.

Josh Moore is the first author on this piece and recently earned his PhD in the Chemistry program.

Cortisol is an important steroid hormone in vertebrate physiology and plays a role in acute and chronic stress response. Current methods for determination of cortisol concentrations in biofluids require extensive sample preparation and long run times. Raman spectroscopy is an attractive alternative because analysis is rapid and non-destructive to the sample.

The Sharma Lab has developed a surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS)-based method for detection of cortisol in ethanol that shows a sigmoidal concentration response and a limit of detection of 177 nanomolar, which is in the physiologically relevant range. The method can be applied to more complex solvent environments through the use of multivariate analysis techniques, where principal components analysis (PCA) demonstrates a linear separation according to cortisol concentration in a serum mimic. “We are, to our knowledge, the first group to report on the detection of cortisol using label-free SERS, which does not require a Raman reporter molecule to obtain signal,” Moore said.

The Sharma Lab published their work “Surface-enhanced spatially-offset Raman spectroscopy (SESORS) for detection of neurochemicals through the skull at physiologically relevant concentrations” in Analyst. 

Detection techniques for neurotransmitters that are rapid, label-free, and non-invasive are needed to move towards earlier diagnosis of neurological disease. Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) allows for sensitive and selective detection of target analytes. The combination of SERS with spatially offset Raman spectroscopy (SORS) in a technique termed surface enhanced spatially offset Raman spectroscopy (SESORS) permits a sensitive and selective detection of neurotransmitters through the skull.

In this piece, the group presents the SESORS detection of individual neurotransmitters and mixtures of neurotransmitters at physiologically relevant concentrations, while also establishing limits of detection.