# Raman spectroscopic platform for transcutaneous monitoring of bone quality

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER · 2024 · $478,092

## Abstract

Osteoporosis (OP) is a global health concern with enormous socioeconomic burdens. Alarmingly, rates of
osteoporosis screening using standard dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) are abysmal, which contributes
to high rates of preventable fragility fractures. Our long-term objective is to develop an accessible screening
method based on Raman spectroscopy (RS) for early, accurate identification of at-risk patients during visits to
primary care providers or community clinics. We posit that this would increase referrals for a gold standard
DXA diagnosis and earlier interventions to reduce the incidence of preventable fragility fractures. We
previously demonstrated the reliability and sensitivity of RS to detect biochemical changes associated with
bone diseases in various mouse models and reported robust correlations of Raman spectral features with
whole bone strength and fracture toughness. We also developed instrumentation and sophisticated algorithms
to subtract optical contributions from overlying soft tissue to enable reliable diagnostically sensitive
transcutaneous RS (tRS) of murine bone on intact limbs. As we pivot to scale up our instrumentation to make
diagnostic measurements in humans, we are addressing three significant challenges. First, the ability to make
reliable transcutaneous bone measurements is hampered by the signal from the thick layers of soft tissues that
overlay the bone. Therefore, we identified the phalanges and metacarpals in the hand as anatomical sites
suitable for tRS measurements, which can be accomplished by adjusting illumination source-detector offsets
and establishing spectral libraries of various tissues. Second, there are no currently demonstrable associations
between RS of peripheral bones of the hand and BMD at the clinically relevant sites of fragility fractures such
as the wrist, hip, and spine. Third, there is currently no evidence that RS of bone can be safely and reliably
acquired in living subjects for bone health diagnosis. In Aim 1, we will adapt our group’s novel spectral
unmixing algorithm, SOLD, to apply it to a recently acquired dataset of human cadaver hand tRS
measurements. The adaptation will account for spatial heterogeneities in Raman spectral responses at the
midshaft versus the epiphyseal regions. In Aim 2 we will demonstrate diagnostic associations between tRS
measurements in the phalanges and metacarpals of cadaver hands with clinically relevant wrist and hip DXA
T-scores and wrist fracture risk. The cadaver hands will be obtained from donors with different sexes, ages,
races, BMI, and DXA BMD and T-scores. In Aim 3, we will launch a pilot in vivo tRS study on 50 volunteers to
improve methodology, identify differences from cadaver data, and perform fracture risk estimations directly
from the tRS data. The proposed studies represent essential steps to demonstrating proof-of-concept of
transcutaneous Raman spectroscopy as a clinically relevant diagnostic and prescreening tool for osteoporosi...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10833211
- **Project number:** 5R01AR070613-07
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Hani A Awad
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $478,092
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-07-01 → 2028-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10833211

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10833211, Raman spectroscopic platform for transcutaneous monitoring of bone quality (5R01AR070613-07). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10833211. Licensed CC0.

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