Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy at the Interface between Drug Discovery and Personalized Medicine.

Personalized medicine and drug discovery are different, yet overlapping, fields, and information from each field is exchanged to improve the other. The current methods used for devising personalized therapeutic plans and developing drug discovery applications are costly, time-consuming, and complex; thus, their applicability is limited in both fields. However, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) offers potential solutions to current challenges. This Mini-Review explores the utility of SERS in drug discovery and personalized medicine. The Mini-Review starts with a brief overview of these fields, including the main challenges and current methods, and then explores examples where SERS has been used to overcome some of the main challenges in both fields. It ends with brief conclusions, perspectives, and current challenges limiting the practical application of SERS.