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Early detection of lung and colorectal cancers is possible via detection of Acetylated Amantadine (AcAm), a small molecule biomarker in urine. Biomark Technologies initially used mass spectroscopy for detection, however, this approach is slow and requires expensive infrastructure.

This project aimed to develop an optical Raman detection method to offer the lower cost and the faster quantification needed. Preliminary research found that the sensitivity and specificity can be achieved by Raman spectroscopy. Researchers were able to advance the Raman quantification technology by creating novel Raman substrates and translate it to the rapid inexpensive fiber-probe platform needed for discovery of diagnostic molecular markers. This showed 40 times improvement over other approaches, however they were not able to remove hydrophobic interferences, as well as other Raman active molecules, in the urine. The investigators were seeking partnerships to continue work on this.