£2m breast fund

Micrima, the Bristol University spin-out company behind a new breast screening technology that uses an innovative radar system to improve the early detection of breast cancer, has secured £2m of investment.

The £2m has been raised from a syndicate of co-investors led by YFM (Yorkshire Fund Managers) Group and Swarraton Partners. Existing investor NESTA (National Endowment for Science, Technology & the Arts) also participated in the funding round.

Breast cancer is the most common cause of death for women aged between 35 and 59 in the EU. For various reasons, the under-50s are not routinely screened. Micrima’s technology has the potential to offer several advantages over existing primary screening technology.

The funding will be used to continue technical development and further clinical trials on Micrima’s breast imaging system MARIA (Multistatic Array processing for Radiowave Image Acquisition), which captures high-resolution, 3D images through the use of harmless radio waves.

The technique uses an innovative radar system developed from land mine detection by a team at Bristol University led by Dr Ian Craddock, Reader in Electrical & Electronic Engineering. The project is founded on Prof Ralph Benjamin's pioneering work on microwave focusing.