Theory of SERS enhancement
This session will discuss the basis behind the enhancement from plasmonic and possibly non-plasmonic enhancing surfaces and encourage discussion on this often controversial topic within the SERS community. We would hope to move towards a consensus on the origin of the enhancement effect since one mechanism is unlikely to be responsible for the observed enhancement in all situations.

SERS in biology/biomedical SERS
SERS has found application in a number of biological studies due to the ability to detect specific biomolecules and events at high sensitivity and in a multiplexed format. This session will set out some of the latest breakthroughs in using SERS for biological applications including immunoassays and ultra sensitive biomolecular detection. Issues on translating SERS into widespread use and applications across life sciences and clinical sciences will be a focus of this session.

Ultrasensitive and towards single molecule SERS
One of the great attractions of SERS is the ultrasensitivity reported with many groups showing single molecule detection. In combination with this is the opportunity to use tip-enhanced Raman scattering (TERS) which provides very high spatial resolution as well as potentially single molecule detection. This session feature talks on TERS and ultrasensitive detection with further discussion focusing around the validity of using SERS for ultrasensitive detection in a routine and robust manner.

Analytical SERS
This session will focus on the use of SERS in analytical applications. SERS has suffered in some cases due to lack of reproducibility and quantitation but improvements in understanding how to harness the surface chemistry more effectively have led to some excellent analytical applications emerging. This session will feature analytical work on forensically important targets and making reproducible nano surfaces as well as the SHINERS approach.