# A quantitative viability metric for liver transplantation using Resonance Raman Spectroscopy

> **NIH NIH R01** · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · 2024 · $477,662

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Organ transplantation is a life-saving treatment for end-stage organ disease; however, there is a severe shortage
of donor organs whereby only ~36% of wait-listed patients receive a transplant. At the same time, many vital
organs that may be transplantable are discarded - some estimates suggest that up to 25% of recovered organs are
not ultimately transplanted, and there are additional pools of unrecovered organs that are only marginally
damaged. However, because of their uncertain viability and the high cost of an unsuccessful transplant, none of
these potential organs are used while transplantation of just a fraction could dramatically reduce the organ
shortage.
A particularly large target of untapped donor organs are marginally injured warm ischemic organs from
Donation after Circulatory Death (DCD). While these organs have been correlated to lower survival rates and
increased post-transplant complications, machine perfusion technology holds the promise of reconditioning
some of these organs, thereby dramatically increasing availability. However, a critical bottleneck that impacts
experimental and clinical advances in reconditioning organs are developing non-objective metrics that can
definitively ascertain if an organ is viable prior to transplantation. Clinically, since organ allocation is already
severely restricted by time, these criteria need to be defined for each organ rapidly and preferably in real-time.
Experimentally, access to flexible platforms would increase the scale and number of researchers that can tackle
these difficult problems. In response to this need, we propose to develop a novel imaging platform that will use
Resonance Raman Spectroscopy (RRS) to quantify mitochondrial redox state on tissue surfaces/biopsies and
mitochondrial breakdown products in the perfusate. Our approach is unique in organ transplantation assessment
since: 1) results are obtained in less than 3 minutes and are non-destructive, and 2) offers the flexibility required
for diverse organ systems, significantly increasing the impact of the proposed work.
While we will target diverse transplantable organs, we focus our initial efforts on liver through execution of two
specific aims. We will develop a benchtop RRS device with the capacity to integrate several types of
measurements on livers, including biopsies, surface measurements, and perfusate samples. In Specific Aim 1, we
will apply and validate the biopsy cell and extendable arm that enables liver biopsies and surface measurements
to calculate the ratio of reduced to total mitochondria (defined as Resonance Raman Reduced Mitochondrial
Ratio, 3RMR). In Specific Aim 2, we will apply and validate the perfusate cell that is compatible with the same
benchtop RRS device to quantify mitochondrial breakdown products in real-time from the perfusate (defined as
the Perfusate Viability Index, PVI). In SA1-2, we will define the 3RMR/PVI threshold values that if exceeded
will indicate irreversible ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10823334
- **Project number:** 5R01DK134590-02
- **Recipient organization:** MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL
- **Principal Investigator:** Shannon Noella Tessier
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $477,662
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-04-15 → 2028-02-29

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10823334

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10823334, A quantitative viability metric for liver transplantation using Resonance Raman Spectroscopy (5R01DK134590-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10823334. Licensed CC0.

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