The University of Wollongong (UOW) will commercialise a new medical technology that detect radiation with the potential to be manufactured in Australia.
The venture, known as MOSkin, is a medical radiation sensor developed by researchers at the Centre or Medical Radiation Physics, part of UOW.
The application of this technology allows for more precise doses of radiation to be delivered to patients undergoing radiotherapy.
The sensor measures radiation dose and dose rate, as well as conducting beam monitoring of transmitted radiation. Part of the design also enables real time control of the amount of radiation being delivered. This has the potential to reduce the likelihood of under or over delivery of radiation.
There are two possible configurations of the technology. The first is a cheap, single-use wireless sensor that can conduct precision measurements of each radiation dose. The second is a multi-use variant for monitoring of angiograms, x-ray tests of blood vessels, and diagnostic and international radiology scans.
Distinguished professor Anatoly Rozenfeld, who led the research, noted the novelty of this device.
“It is the only real-time radiation sensor that provides an accurate measure of dose to the skin during radiation therapy treatment or diagnostic radiology procedures,” he said.
According to a statement from UOW, up to 50 per cent of current radiotherapy treatments involve unwanted organ or tissue damage. More precise doses of radiation would help to reduce this number.
The device has undergone clinical testing in Australia, Europe, Brazil and Malaysia, and is the product of over a decade of development, including work with microelectronic foundries to produce the device.
Sydney-based Electrogenics Laboratories has the exclusive global licence to develop MOSkin. The company has plans to list of the Australian stock exchange in the next 18 months and a pre-IPO offering is underway with the hope to produce the technology in Australia, as Electrogenics chairman Kim Lyle noted.
“Electrogenics is partnering with leading Australian engineering and compliance consultants and industrial designers to ensure this breakthrough Australian invention will be manufactured in Australia and commercialised globally.”