Boardman, A.K.A.K.BoardmanWong, W.S.W.S.WongPremasiri, W.R.W.R.PremasiriZiegler, L.D.L.D.ZieglerLee, J.C.J.C.LeeMiljkovic, M.M.MiljkovicKlapperich, C.M.C.M.KlapperichSharon, A.A.SharonSauer-Budge, A.F.A.F.Sauer-Budge2022-03-052022-03-052016https://publica.fraunhofer.de/handle/publica/24698310.1021/acs.analchem.6b01273Traditional methods for identifying pathogens in bacteremic patients are slow (24-48+ h). This can lead to physicians making treatment decisions based on an incomplete diagnosis and potentially increasing the patient's mortality risk. To decrease time to diagnosis, we have developed a novel technology that can recover viable bacteria directly from whole blood and identify them in less than 7 h. Our technology combines a sample preparation process with surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). The sample preparation process enriches viable microorganisms from 10 mL of whole blood into a 200 μL aliquot. After a short incubation period, SERS is used to identify the microorganisms. We further demonstrated that SERS can be used as a broad detection method, as it identified a model set of 17 clinical blood culture isolates and microbial reference strains with 100% identification agreement.en543journal article