How can the complex technology used to explore deepest space be used to equal effect in the doctor’s surgery? The University's Space Research Centre (SRC) has found out. And the results could benefit millions.

The University of Leicester's SRC has led the way in innovative instrumentation design for space research for nearly 50 years. We have an enviable track record in the development of imagers for satellite-based x-ray and XUV (extreme ultraviolet) astronomy. But when our scientists discovered that the challenges of detecting low levels of emissions in space were similar to those encountered on earth in biological and medical analysis, a new opportunity in bioimaging opened up.

Collaborating with medical physicists and clinicians, Leicester scientists have developed a Mini Gamma Ray Camera that scans and images gamma radiation-emitting radioisotopes that have been attached to a drug and injected into a patient’s body.

The new camera is portable and the size of a computer mouse: designed for use in the operating theatre, doctor’s surgery, or at the patient’s bedside to locate and identify cancerous tumours. It it provides much greater flexibility and sensitivity than a conventional, large gamma ray camera, giving much better resolution for detecting the number, size and location of tumours.

The future for this new technology looks exciting as a broader roll out commences.

• Space Research Centre
• Mini Gamma Ray Camera

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