www.rsc.org/analyst Registered Charity Number 207890 Showcasing research of the Nanostructure Division at the Italian Institute of Technology, Genoa, Italy, which is involved in the research of single molecule detection using SERS, TERS and SENSe techniques under Professor Enzo Di Fabrizio. Title: Fabrication of large-area ordered and reproducible nanostructures for SERS biosensor application Anodic porous alumina template based SERS substrates with varying pore size and wall thickness were fabricated. Various molecules (cresyl violet, rhodamine 6G and GFP protein) were deposited on honey-comb nano-patterned SERS substrates using a chemisorption technique. Theoretical simulation shows excellent agreement with experiment indings. As featured in: See Gobind Das et al., Analyst, 2012, 137, 1785–1792.