University News Last updated 12 March 2015
Pioneering research into cancer diagnosis, led by the University’s School of Digital Media Technology (DMT), was featured on Radio 4's PM programme earlier this week.
Dr Ryan Stables of DMT has collaborated with the University of Central Lancashire and GEANT, (a pan-European research and education network) on a preliminary study which converted stem cell data into sounds rather than visual data such as graphs, similar to the function of a metal detector.
Ryan says,“It allows you to identify the characteristics of cancer in real-time, which we hope could have life-changing implications for patients through the development of better diagnostic tools.”
At the moment, waiting times for cancer tests are at a six year high. The testing itself is often invasive and can involve taking a biopsy, sending it to a lab and awaiting results, which can take up to six weeks. Current methods of stem cell analysis involve computational pattern analysis, which is very time consuming. By classifying data into audio signals instead, it is easier to differentiate between healthy and cancerous cells and the process is much quicker.
This non-invasive system is still in the early stages of development; the preliminary study was launched at the 20th International Conference on Audio Display.