New scan system for the early detection of cancer

Low-light sensors allow better imaging of the body and are more cost-effective than the existing systems

A CORK-BASED company is pioneering low-light detection techniques for scanning equipment for use in the medical sector.

SensL’s systems are being incorporated into the next of generation positron emission tomography (PET) equipment for scanning for cancer to aid with early detection.

Its technology is based on low-light sensors capable of detecting weak light signals. These allow better imaging of the body and are more cost-effective than the existing systems, the company says.

Padraig Hughes, director of engineering at SensL, equates the development of solid state detectors – used in its systems – with the move from early computers that filled a room to having similar computing power in a mobile phone.

The company was founded in 2004 by Dr Carl Jackson to commercialise parts of his PhD research which he completed at the Tyndall Institute in UCC.

For the next three years the company was involved in development and building up its management team. By 2008 it had revenues of €1 million with a number of international customers. It employs 15 people.

Optical sensors are used in a range of sectors from food processing to security but SensL is concentrating on the medical market, and in particular cancer detection.

The company and its partners have just completed the world’s first full brain PET to be used in a PET/MRI system. This uses an array of SensL detectors arranged in a ring around the head of the patient undergoing a scan. Hughes says the integration of these imaging systems produces higher quality brain images to assist the detection of cancer.

SensL is also working on a medical imaging tool to allow accurate and guided biopsies to be performed on a patient.

Hughes says the company is primarily funded by venture capital; Delta Capital has a significant shareholding.

Enterprise Ireland also has a small stake in the company and in the early days of development invested through Cord programmes, This assistance was critical.

He describes SensL as a “design house, as we don’t manufacture anything”. The company’s primary market is the US.

sensl.com