MARS Bioimaging
 | |
| Industry | Health care Radiology Manufacturing |
|---|---|
| Founded | September 2007 |
| Founder | Philip Butler, Anthony Butler |
| Headquarters | , |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Philip Butler, CEO |
| Products | CT, spectral photon-counting CT |
| Services | Medical equipment Technology for drug discovery and biopharmaceuticals Solutions for clinicians and health care administrators |
| Website | www |
MARS Bioimaging Limited (MBI) is a medical imaging company focusing on spectral photon counting computed tomography for quantitative color imaging.[1] The company was founded in Christchurch, New Zealand to commercialize the MARS imaging system for its applications in medicine.
History
[edit]MARS Bioimaging Limited was founded in September 2007[2] by father and son professors, Phillip and Anthony Butler to develop x-ray imaging that captures and processes information from individual x-ray photons, producing quantitative 3D color imaging at very high resolution (50-200 μm).[3][4][5] MARS imaging systems are based on the new generation Medipix chip licensed out of CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research), Switzerland[2] and technology developed by the University of Canterbury (UC), and other partners.[6]
Funding for research began in 2003, with a NZ$500,000 grant from the New Economy Research Fund. This fund enabled New Zealand universities to join CERN, including .
NZ$1.5 million grant from the Tertiary Education Commission - Infrastructure Development Fund was awarded to MBI after forming in 2007, followed by a NZ$4.5 million manufacturing award from the Foundation for Research Science and Technology to developing a small animal spectral scanner for researchers.
In 2011, MBI released its first small-bore spectral CT scanner for CT researchers[7] and remains the only company in the world with a commercially available preclinical spectral photon-counting CT scanner.[8]
In February 2014, MBI raised more than NZ$500,000 in series A capital financing led by Powerhouse Ventures (PowerHouse).[7] Series B funding in March 2015, again led by PowerHouse Ventures, raised another NZ$500,000.[9]
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) awarded MBI a High Value Manufacturing award, worth NZ$13 million over 2014-2021.
Since October 2015, Callaghan Innovations has supported MBI in employing MARS researchers through a number of Research and Development Career Grants.[9]
In November 2018, the CEO of MBI was the first living human scanned by a MARS system,[10] followed by the first patient scanned early 2020.[1] On November 16, 2020, MBI announced international clinical trials of their compact, point-of-care MARS system for diagnosing hand and wrist injuries would begin early 2021.[1]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c "New 3D colour X-rays made possible with CERN technology". CERN. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
- ^ a b "Medipix: From particles to patients". CERN. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
- ^ "Kiwi scientists revolutionising x-ray scanning technology | Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment". www.mbie.govt.nz. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
- ^ "2018 News Items". Website. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
- ^ Walsh, M F; Opie, A M T; Ronaldson, J P; Doesburg, R M N; Nik, S J; Mohr, J L; Ballabriga, R; Butler, A P H; Butler, P H (21 January 2011). "First CT using Medipix3 and the MARS-CT-3 spectral scanner". Journal of Instrumentation. 6 (1): C01095. Bibcode:2011JInst...6.1095W. doi:10.1088/1748-0221/6/01/c01095. ISSN 1748-0221. S2CID 250678034.
- ^ Schioppa, Enrico Junior; Visser, Jan; Koffeman, Els (3 July 2015). "Prospects for spectral CT with Medipix detectors". Proceedings of Technology and Instrumentation in Particle Physics 2014 — PoS(TIPP2014). p. 246. doi:10.22323/1.213.0246.
- ^ a b "MARS Bioimaging to Position Itself for Series A Fundraising". www.scoop.co.nz. 25 February 2014. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
- ^ Holbrook, M.; Clark, D. P.; Barber, W.; Badea, C. T. (9 March 2018). "Development of a spectral photon-counting micro-CT system with a translate-rotate geometry". In Gilat Schmidt, Taly; Lo, Joseph Y; Chen, Guang-Hong (eds.). Medical Imaging 2018: Physics of Medical Imaging. Vol. 10573. International Society for Optics and Photonics. pp. 105731D. Bibcode:2018SPIE10573E..1DH. doi:10.1117/12.2293373. ISBN 9781510616356. S2CID 125776399.
- ^ a b "MARS Bioimaging". Scale-Up New Zealand. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
- ^ "First 3D colour X-ray of a human using CERN technology". CERN. Retrieved 30 November 2020.