February Monthly Meeting

Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh Monthly Meeting

TECHNICAL FORUM – 5:30 PM
Justin Hettick, NIOSH (Morgantown)h

“Infection Prevention and Control in the West Africa Ebola Outbreak”
The 2014 Ebola epidemic in West Africa is the first in history. The first case was reported in Guinea in March 2014, and the disease spread in the neighboring countries of Liberia and Sierra Leone. Over the span of a year, the Ebola epidemic has caused more than 10 times as many cases of Ebola than the combined total of all those reported in previous Ebola outbreaks. Overall, nine countries have reported cases of Ebola, more than 27,000 people have had suspected, probable, or confirmed Ebola, and more than 11,000 have died. These numbers are likely to be even higher, as many cases have gone undiagnosed and unreported. Effective infection control can protect communities and the healthcare workers who serve them. Before the Ebola outbreak, infection control in health facilities in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone was often minimal at best. Fragile healthcare systems added to the rapid spread of the virus and made it difficult to contain the epidemic. In addition, community behaviors needed to change to keep people from getting Ebola when caring for people who were sick or participating in traditional burials. Responders on the ground in West Africa have been working closely with partners and the ministries of health to provide training and health education to reduce the spread of disease. …Read Bio

TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM – 8:15 PM
Volker Deckert

“Molecular Analysis in the Nanometer Domain – Tip-Enhanced Raman Scatteringe”
Nano science is omnipresent in modern research. Nanometer structuring of electronic circuits, toxicity assessment of nano particles are just a few examples where nano science already reached everyday life. Interestingly only a few analytical techniques can cope with such small dimensions. While electron and scanning probe microscopy provide impressive contrast and morphological distinction at such dimensions, direct chemical information is limited to the elemental composition. The Nobel Prize 2014 clearly indicated the importance of nanoscale sensitivity. Here labeling techniques in combination with clever illumination schemes are used to push fluorescence techniques to the lateral limit.

Interestingly the wealth of structurally sensitive analytical techniques available in combination with normal optical microscopy (IR, MS, Raman, etc.) is still restricted by Abbe’s / Rayleigh’s diffraction limit. As for now emission depletion and pointilistic fluorescence techniques cannot be used for those methods. As an alternative near-field optical techniques can be applied to overcome resolution limitations. Those techniques can still profit from the wealth of structurally sensitive optical methods.

The presentation will mainly focus on Raman related near-field optical techniques to address nano domains. So-called tip-enhanced Raman scattering (TERS) will be shown to provide the means to structurally investigate nanometer sized domains on surfaces. Applications ranging from structure assessment of biologically relevant systems like fibrils and viruses, to the insight of heterogeneously catalyze reactions will be presented. …Read Bio