Maria Ruchkina and Anders Sjögren from Deep Light Vision.
Deep Light Vision, a medtech spin-off company from Lund University, works on a new way to fundamentally enhance image diagnostics. The path forward proceeds via quantum technology.
It is a busy season for Anders Sjögren, the CEO of Deep Light Vision, as we meet at IQT Nordics, the quantum conference this year held at Chalmers in Gothenburg.
– We have managed to get approval to do a clinical trial, which is very rare for work on research instruments. It’s exciting times, he says.
Early detection
Deep Light Vision wants to revolutionize healthcare with their Ultrasound Optical Tomography (UOT) method, offering real-time, non-invasive imaging of tissue oxygenation. UOT technology uses a combination of ultrasound, laser spectroscopy and quantum sensors to take detailed pictures of the oxygen levels in the body.
By addressing critical gaps in neonatal care, cancer, stroke, and more, UOT has the potential to offer early detection, faster, more accurate diagnoses and improve patient outcomes.
– In short, we are doing functional imaging as opposed to structural. X-ray and ultrasound are about structure in tissue; it says nothing about the quality of the tissue. Whereas we should get information about molecular processes in the tissue. We can measure oxygenation deep inside the body, in a way that no one else can, says Anders Sjögren.
Quick diagnostics
The market is huge and Deep Light Vision now focus on deciding which application area they should go for. It is about learning the market and the customers and keep working on product development.
– We see it in neonatal care, which concerns newborns and premature babies, where a fairly large proportion of babies have oxygenation problems. Also, breast cancer has the characteristic that oxygenation is different in tumours, so you can diagnose it that way, says Anders Sjögren.
The product delivered will be a combination of hardware and software.
– Our goal is to provide a mobile device for early, quick and easy diagnostics in clinics and emergency departments worldwide. We believe that the technology can be licensed to partners in various applications, when we get the basic technology in place.
Clinical trials
Now, the Swedish Medical Products Agency has approved a clinical study using UOT on volunteers. It is a big thing for Deep Light Vision, with the Medical Device Regulation (MDR) from EU in place.
– We are preparing the UOT system for the first ever images on human tissue, also the university and hospital in Lund are with us. We get to test this on healthy volunteers, arms and legs and also women breasts. We hope to start the process in the autumn of 2025, says Anders Sjögren.
When can a product be on the market?
– Years ahead, 2030-2031 with a focused effort and it will cost more than hundred million SEK to get there. It's a long journey, but we are really excited about the possibilities ahead, says Anders Sjögren.
Text and photo: Jonas Löfvendahl
• Deep Light Vision
A spin-off from Lund University, formed 2022, with currently three employees. Develops a new innovative medical imaging method: Ultrasound Optical Tomography (UOT). The research behind the technology has been ongoing for a decade, led by Professor Stefan Kröll. UOT technology has the potential to provide rapid, non-invasive diagnostics for critical conditions like neonatal birth asphyxia and breast cancer.
• How is this quantum technology?
– We use Quantum Enabled Rare Earth Crystals, as we call them, and put laser beams to programme the crystals into becoming a filter transmitting only the medically relevant light signal. We put selected rare earth atoms in a state where they don’t absorb such that they let trough exactly the photons we want. It’s pretty awesome and requires good control at the quantum level, says Anders Sjögren.Quantum enables unique medtech technology