Dr Fiona Lyng of Dublin Institute of Technology is this year’s winner of the Enterprise Ireland “One to Watch” award. Dr Lyng is developing a new system using Raman spectroscopy to diagnose cervical cancer together with her colleagues at the Radiation and Environmental Science Centre at the Focas Institute in DIT and collaborators at the Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital.
The Minister for Research and Innovation Mr Sean Sherlock T.D. has named Dr Fiona Lyng of Dublin Institute of Technology as this year’s winner of the Enterprise Ireland “One to Watch” award. Dr Lyng is developing a new system using Raman spectroscopy to diagnose cervical cancer together with her colleagues at the Radiation and Environmental Science Centre at the Focas Institute in DIT and collaborators at the Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital with support from Enterprise Ireland.
Minister Sherlock presented the award to Dr Lyng at the Enterprise Ireland Applied Research Forum in front of 250 academic researchers gathered to look at ways to increase the amount of commercially valuable research that is transferred from third level institutions into Irish industry. Presenting the award, Minister Sherlock said:
“Dr Lyng’s system has the potential to revolutionise the diagnosis of cervical cancer. With the support of Enterprise Ireland and DIT Hothouse, plans are in place to commercialise this important technology through a spin-out company. The work is an excellent example of the positive social and economic impact of research outputs.”
Accepting the award, Dr Lyng, who is currently Centre Manager of the Radiation and Environmental Science Centre, DIT said:
“I am delighted to accept this award on behalf of the team at DIT who are developing this new system to diagnose cervical cancer and our colleagues at the Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital. With the support of Enterprise Ireland, DIT Hothouse and our business partner Paul Hands I look forward to making this system available to help the diagnosis and treatment of cervical cancer worldwide.
Enterprise Ireland has funded the development of this technology for five years. Enterprise Ireland is now working closely with DIT and the team who, together with business partner Paul Hands, are planning to establish a spin-out company, Raman Diagnostics, to commercialise the technology. Sixty-three such spin-out companies have emerged from Irish third level colleges in the past three years with Enterprise Ireland support.
Fiona Lyng’s team at the Focas Institute in DIT is developing an analyser based on Raman spectroscopy and an algorithm developed by DIT to detect cervical pre-cancer in Pap smears. This is currently done by skilled cytologists. This analyser will give higher specificity and sensitivity values than the currently used histopathological/cytological methods. The intention is to ultimately develop a fully automated cervical cancer screening system. The commercial potential of the DIT technology is significant since the cervical cancer screening market is currently worth over $6 billion.