On Wednesday, Dec. 7, the new Raman spectroscopy microscope was installed for the BME department. Located in EC 2370, this instrument is used for the nondestructive evaluation of materials by providing a fingerprint of its underlying molecular structure. It uses infrared laser light to interact with the materials, resulting in molecular vibrations and inelastic energy scattering, which is used to identify its molecular structure. The BME department plans to use the Raman spectroscopy microscope to detect the composition of a range of biological materials (plant, bone, and cardiovascular tissue) in healthy and diseased states as well as on engineered systems.