iThera Medical GmbH was announced winner of the start-up category at the German Innovation Prize award ceremony in Munich on Friday evening. iThera’s MSOT (Multispectral Optoacoustic Tomography) technology uses light to produce sound and then images: laser pulses directed onto cells or tissues generate acoustic signals that are picked up by a detector and converted into exact, three-dimensional images. In this way, living cells and tissues can be visualized without destroying them – in real time and with the highest precision, even when they are situated several centimetres beneath the body surface.
The technology was developed by Prof. Vasilis Ntziachristos and Dr Daniel Razansky at the Helmholtz Zentrum München with support from GO-Bio, a German Federal Ministry of Education and Research funding programme. “It has enormous potential – not just for the preclinical development of new medicines, but also for medical diagnostics,” said Dr Christian Stein, CEO of Ascenion, the Helmholtz Zentrum’s technology transfer partner. “Our warmest congratulations go to iThera on winning the German Innovation Prize. The award will be instrumental in raising awareness of MSOT and further extending its practical application.”
Ascenion actively supported the founding of iThera and continues to assist with the company’s development.
The German Innovation Prize is a joint initiative of Accenture, EnBW, Evonik and the business magazine WirtschaftsWoche, and has been awarded every year since 2010 to honour outstanding innovation by German companies. The Prize is awarded in three categories: large, medium and start-up enterprises.
<link http: www.ithera-medical.com home.html _blank external-link-new-window>More about iThera Medical GmbH
<link http: www.der-deutsche-innovationspreis.de external-link-new-window>More about the prize and the presentation ceremony
