Research Description

In the Schultz Lab, we believe the new scientific breakthroughs will be enabled by state of the art chemical measurement. Our research focuses on developing new tools for identifying molecules relevant to biomedical diagnostics and other applications. To do this, we build and develop instrumentation that takes advantage of chemical properties to characterize complex samples. The interaction between lasers and molecules provides unique information for detecting and identifying the components in complex systems. Understanding the basic science involved in chemical detection and manipulating these interactions has led to breakthrough technologies with tremendous potential. Much of the work in our lab involves vibrational spectroscopy, and in particular, Raman spectroscopy. We commonly leverage nanoparticles to enhance the signal, an effect commonly referred to as surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). Increasingly, machine learning is used to analyze and model the behavior and properties encoded in optical spectra.