Forth Photonics, a spin-off company of the Foundation for Research & Technology Hellas (FORTH), raised £ 6.1m in order to intensify the marketing of DySIS in the UK and Europe. DySIS, a cervical cancer identifier, promises to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of women worldwide. The company also aspires to launch and commercialise the product in the US, subject to clearance to market by the US Food and Drug Administration. The investors are the London-based NBGI Ventures, the recently formed Albion Ventures acquired from Close Brothers, and the Scottish Enterprise-established Scottish Venture Fund.

DySIS, which stands for Dynamic Spectral Imaging System, is already available in parts of Europe and the UK. FORTH Photonics hopes it will soon be available in hospitals, clinics and health centres nationwide in the UK. DySIS is commercialised in Scotland, which is a global med-tech hub.

Professor Costas Balas, the company's founder and chief technical officer, established the proprietary technology platform at the Institute of Electronic Structure & Laser (IESL-FORTH), Heraklion, Greece, using imaging systems to detect and identify cancerous and pre-cancerous lesions. DySIS uses spectral imaging technology, which increases early detection of cervical cancer by as much as 60%, compared to traditional detection technologies.

Relevant link: http://www.forth-photonics.com/news.php