Collaboration to Improve Cancer Survival Rates with Innovative Imaging Technology

The collaboration is between optical imaging company Michelson Diagnostics, Ltd. (MDL; Kent, UK), the University of Cardiff (Wales, UK), Gloucestershire Hospitals U.K. National Health Service (NHS) Foundation Trust, UK National Physical Laboratory (NPL; Middlesex, UK), semiconductor specialist Kamelian (Oxfordshire, UK), and medical imaging systems specialist Tactiq (Berkshire UK).

Michelson Diagnostics has been awarded a £325,000 grant from the UK's Technology Strategy Board (TSB, London, UK) for the project, which is called OMICRON. The project will last two years, and will focus on development of an in-vivo imaging probe, using OCT, to obtain high resolution sub-surface images of cancerous tissue, operating at the new, untried wavelength of 1 µm.

Leading OCT researcher Prof. Wolfgang Drexler, director of research at the University of Cardiff department of optometry and vision science, said "We believe that images acquired at 1 µm wavelength will offer improved contrast and resolution that will help clinicians to distinguish between healthy and cancerous tissue.”

Clinicians frequently take biopsy samples of tissue for laboratory analysis by pathologists when diagnosing, assessing, treating, and monitoring cancer. This can be inefficient, expensive, and time-consuming. The biopsy may be poorly targeted on the tumor, and results from the analysis can take weeks to come back.

Dr. Nick Stone, head of biophotonics at Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS [National Health Service] Foundation Trust, added "OCT scanning has the exciting potential of both guiding and reducing the dependence on biopsies, which could speed up cancer diagnosis and treatment, reducing the pressure on overloaded pathology departments, and improve outcomes from cancer surgery.”

Jon Holmes, CEO of MDL, said, "We are very excited about winning this grant as it has enabled a collaboration of world-class academic and industrial partners, to develop products which will make an enormous difference to the lives of many of those with cancer.”

Michelson Diagnostics innovative optical probe technology develops sub-surface OCT images for cancer surgery guidance, surveillance and diagnostic applications.

NPL is the United Kingdom's national standards laboratory, an international center for research, development and knowledge transfer in measurement and materials science.

Kamelian products are marketed by Amphotonix, which specializes in the design and manufacture of advanced III-V photonic components focusing on semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) and broadband light sources (SLDs).

Tactiq are an ISO13485 embedded systems, software, electronics, and user interface development services for clients ranging from small technology companies to global blue chip corporations.


Related Links:
Michelson Diagnostics
University of Cardiff
National Physical Laboratory