A BREAKTHROUGH in cancer detection pioneered by Cheshire scientists was announced yesterday.
A team working at Daresbury Laboratory, near Warrington, have found a way of finding cancers early using high energy light sources.
They have been comparing images of healthy intestines with those known to have gastrointestinal cancer.
The images were produced using light emitted by particles accelerated to the speed of light by Daresbury’s synchrotron (SRS) light source. Their high resolution meant the team could detect how many stem cells, known to be linked with cancerous tumours, were present in the healthy gut compared to the one with cancer.
Project scientist, James Nicholson, said: “It could be used as a diagnostic tool in cancers, not to cure cancer but to detect it early.”
Dr Nicholson said the infra-red mapping of the stem cells could not have been done without the SRS, which is the only one of its kind in the UK. It is due to close in September.
