Raman spectroscopy is a chemical analysis technique that provides detailed information about chemical structure, phase and polymorphy, crystallinity, and molecular interactions; it is based on the interaction of light with the chemical bonds within a material. In a paper published by Goff et al in Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology, researchers aimed to test the efficacy of Raman spectroscopy in diagnosing mice infected with strains of the bacteria that causes Lyme disease, as well as to test the technique in analyzing human serum samples (Lyme disease–positive, Lyme disease–negative, and Lyme disease–probable). Blood samples from the infected mice were identified with 96% accuracy, 94% sensitivity, and 100% specificity, respectively; human serum samples were analyzed with 88% accuracy, 85% sensitivity, and 90% specificity, respectively. The next step in the research, according to senior study author Artem Rogovskyy, DVM, PhD, DACVM, Associate Professor at the Texas A&M School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, is to test human samples in a blind manner to further determine the power of Raman spectroscopy as a diagnostic tool in the Lyme disease armamentarium. “We’re trying to develop a better test that would be simple, inexpensive, and accurate,” Dr. Rogovskyy said in a companion press release from Texas A&M Today. “By accurate, I mean highly sensitive and highly specific at the same time.”