sKan cancer detector wins international James Dyson Award

The team of four engineering undergraduates at McMaster University set out to tackle the problem of melanoma diagnosis, which often relies on visual inspections that can be inaccurate. More advanced methods are available but they are time consuming and expensive.

In the UK alone, a tenth of skin cancers are diagnosed in the ‘late’ stage and it can take a number of weeks to see a specialist. Those who do not go through biopsy procedures run the risk of missed detection.

To counter this, the team’s sKan is a cheaper, easy to use diagnostic system that could save lives through early detection, while also saving health services time and money. As international winners of the James Dyson Award, the team will be given £30,000 to develop their idea.

Cancerous cells have a higher metabolic rate than normal cells and release more heat. Following a thermal shock - such as the application of an ice pack - cancerous tissue will regain heat more quickly than the non-cancerous tissue, indicating a likelihood of melanoma.