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Terahertz spectroscopy for bacterial detection: opportunities and challenges

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Abstract

The demand for advanced bacterial detection tools is continuously increasing, promoted by its significant benefits in various applications. For instance, in the medical field, these tools would facilitate decision making about more tailored therapies once the infection source has been identified. In the past few years, terahertz (THz = 1012 Hz) spectroscopy has also shown potential as a novel bacterial detection modality due to its unique advantages. Impressive breakthroughs have been achieved in this field related to bacterial component characterization, spore identification, and cell detection. However, some intrinsic limitations and technical bottlenecks have led to some debates about the practicability of its clinical adoption. In this review, we summarize the progress achieved in this field and discuss some challenges and strategies for future implementation of practical applications.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Laboratory Medicine, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, 400038, China

    Xiang Yang, Ke Yang & Weiling Fu

  2. Medical Research Center, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, 400038, China

    Yang Luo

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  1. Xiang Yang
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Correspondence to Yang Luo or Weiling Fu.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors.

Funding

This mini review was partially supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (2015CB755400), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81430054, 81572079, 81371899), the Subproject of Military Science and Technology “12th Plan” Major Project (AWS11C001), and the Subproject of National Science and Technology Major Project (2012ZX10004801–003-006).

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Yang, X., Yang, K., Luo, Y. et al. Terahertz spectroscopy for bacterial detection: opportunities and challenges. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 100, 5289–5299 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-016-7569-6

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