“Blood is a relatively simple sample to obtain from patients and hence is the primary medium for diagnostic testing for a range of pathologies. Spectroscopy offers many advantages for blood-based diagnostics, the main being the potential for personnel point-of-care diagnostic devices. Development of a point-of-care diagnostic approach, enabling timely diagnosis would have a tremendous impact on reducing mortality, through enabling to quickly introduce effective therapy, improving patient outcomes, and reducing disease transmission.”

The featured article this month is a Focal Point Review, "Infrared Spectroscopy of Blood", written by Professor Bayden Wood and his colleagues at Monash University - Centre for Biospectroscopy, Clayton, Victoria, Australia. This article is an up-to-date review of progress towards using infrared spectroscopy of blood for parasitic, bacteria, fungal, and viral infection diagnosis.