Victorian startup NanoCube Health has been awarded $3 million in federal grant funding as part of a $7.3m plan to drive develop technology for early detection and treatment of pancreatic cancer.
The medtech startup, which won last year’s SXSW Sydney pitch competition, sending cofounder Lisa Milani to Austin, Texas, to pitch at SXSW earlier this year, was among 23 projects sharing in $55 million as part of the federal government’s Cooperative Research Centres Program.
NanoCube Health’s project is a collaboration with the RMIT, the Pancare Foundation, BNNT Technology, University of Melbourne, Ouroborus and the Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication.
All up, the CRC grants involve 109 project partners – 81 from industry and 28 research organisations – spanning critical minerals, renewable energy, healthcare and other industries.
NanoCube Health is collaborating with leading research institutions and manufacturers to drive develop its Duobots technology for minimally invasive, biopsy-free tissue analysis for early pancreatic cancer detection.
Pancreatic cancer is set to be the 2nd leading cause of cancer deaths by 2030, with most cases diagnosed in advanced stages which significantly lowers treatment success, survival rates and quality of life.
Milani said that seven out of ten people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer won’t survive a year after diagnosis, and most people pass away five to seven months post-diagnosis.
“Survival rates have stagnated for over 40 years and 80-90% of people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer when the disease is advanced or metastasised to other organs as there are no early-stage screening tools and the disease is asymptomatic in its early stages,” she said.
“Leveraging artificial intelligence, NanoCube Health are developing a bioinspired nanorobotics device to detect the disease forming at its earliest stage – at a cellular level, to monitor treatment progress in real-time ​and deliver targeted treatment.”
Milani said the Cooperative Research grant will build on Australia’s reputation for pioneering work in the medtech space.
“We will be closing the current funding round soon, and it’s amazing that every $1 invested will be matched by $3 from the Australian Government,” she said.
“We’re excited to accelerate our early-stage research toward clinical implementation, with the ultimate goal of improving survival rates and transforming the future of medicine.”
Among those also receiving Cooperative Research Australian (CRA) funding is WaveX, which was awarded $2.4 million to work on the development of its unique anchors for offshore wind and wave energy, teaming up with global experts in wave energy from the University of Western Australia.
WaveX was also among the startups in the 2024 SXSW Sydney pitch competition in the technology and innovation category.
Sydney’s Atomo Diagnostics received $2.4 million to develop Australia’s first at-home syphilis test which distinguishes active infection from past-treated case, while Queensland startup Emesent also scored $2.4 million to pioneer an innovative autonomous mining platform to collect and merge data from field robots and sensors; and South Australia’s Miniprobes received $1.5 million to deliver an AI-enabled optical scanner to assess beef quality.
CRA CEO Jane O’Dwyer said the projects will play a significant role in the Government’s Future Made in Australia agenda,
“Industry-research collaboration, and the translation of research into commercial, economic, social, and environmental outcomes that benefit all Australians, is central to the plan’s success,” she said.
“The range of projects awarded is, once again, most extraordinary, including portable emergency healthcare, an AI-enabled fibre-optic sensor to measure meat quality for the beef industry, the pioneering of an integrated mining digitalisation and automation platform, next generation technology enabling drug discovery for mental health, manufacturing novel FR materials for the future, and a holistic economical offshore wind turbine solution for Australia.”
More at business.gov.au/crc-p
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