Raman Spectroscopy tagged posts

Georgios Tsiminis in his photonics laboratory. Credit: University of Adelaide

A 1st step towards a low-cost, portable, broadscale vitamin B12 deficiency test has been developed. Vitamin B12 deficiency is associated with an increased risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Such a device would enable the tracking of vitamin B12 levels in high-risk patients and early intervention – to top up vitamin B12 levels when low – and help overcome the limitations of current testing methods which are time-consuming and costly.

“Vitamin B12 deficiency has been shown to be a potential modifiable risk factor for dementia and Alzheimer’s disease and is associated with cognitive decline,” says Dr Georgios Tsiminis, Research Fellow at the University of Adelaide...

The picture shows toxic Alzheimer’s amyloid beta molecules landing on a fake cell membrane, wrapped around a silver nanoparticle. A laser, with help from the silver particle, lights up the molecule to reveal its structure. Credit: Copyright Debanjan Bhowmik; Credit to Debanjan Bhowmik, TIFR, Mumbai

The elusive toxic form of the Alzheimer’s molecule has now been observed, during its attempt to bore into the outer covering of a cell decoy, using a new method involving laser light and fat-coated silver nanoparticles.

“Everybody wants to make the key to solve Alzheimer’s Disease, but we don’t know what the lock looks like. We now have a glimpse of something which could be the lock...