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Cancer Research Horizons, the innovation arm of Cancer Research UK, has launched the start-up Suil Vision to develop virtual reality software that enables immersive, multi-dimensional data analysis for almost any type of biological data.
Due to the increasing size and complexity of the data generated by new technologies in life sciences, improving data visualisation and analysis is more important than ever. Using the unique medium of virtual reality, Suil Vision aims to develop a powerful data visualisation and analysis tool that is compatible with many data sources and accessible to researchers with limited programming skills. It will preserve the position, type, shape, and genetic data of each cell.
Suil Vision's co-founders are Owen Harris (VR expert), Greg Hannon (world leader in cancer biology) and Dario Bressan (expert in the spatial-omics field) from the Cancer Grand Challenges team, IMAXT, which formed in 2017 to address the challenge of mapping tumours at the molecular and cellular level. Cancer Research UK launched CRUK Grand Challenge in 2015. Building on its success, in 2020 it partnered with the National Cancer Institute in the US to co-found Cancer Grand Challenges. Suil Vision is the first start-up to emerge from the Cancer Grand Challenges programme.
Using Cancer Research UK funding through the Cancer Grand Challenges initiative, a team led by Owen developed the first version of the software and initiated development of the next-generation version. In exchange for the exclusive global software licence to the next-generation version, Cancer Research Horizons received equity in the company and will be eligible to receive downstream payments and royalties on net sales. With £500k investment from the Cancer Research Horizons Seed Fund, Suil Vision will create a market-ready version for rollout across institutions and companies. Cancer Research Horizons will be represented on Suil Vision's board of directors.
Owen Harris, co-founder and Director of Suil Vision, says: “This investment marks an exciting step forward for the Suil team. We will now take the groundbreaking work we started with Cancer Grand Challenges and build it out for the broader scientific community. With this support, we can expand our team, accelerate the development of new tools, and make complex biological data more accessible for researchers and scientists worldwide. I’m thrilled to partner with Cancer Research Horizons and look forward to growing this company together. Beyond this investment, this partnership opens up incredible long-term potential for Suil Vision to drive innovation not just in cancer research, but across a range of scientific fields that rely on large-scale data analysis.”
Phil Masterson, Associate Director of Ventures, Cancer Research Horizons, says: “While there have been advances in the ability to generate complex biological data, tools to explore such data in a simple and intuitive way remains a major challenge. With the founders' expertise and our investment, Suil Vision is optimally positioned to deliver a software solution to tackle this challenge and enable researchers to gain new insights into cancer and other diseases. It’s also fantastic for us to support and fund the first start-up coming out of Cancer Grand Challenges. It’s testament to our vision to bring ideas tackling the toughest challenges in cancer closer to the clinic.”
David Scott, Director, Cancer Grand Challenges, says: “Thanks to £20m funding from Cancer Research UK through Cancer Grand Challenges, the IMAXT team has brought together cutting-edge expertise and innovative technologies to map tumours in 3D and then visualise the data in virtual reality. This has enabled the team to reveal new insights into the biology of tumours previously beyond reach. We are thrilled to see Suil Vision build on the virtual reality data visualisation technology, turning it into a powerful tool that will benefit the scientific community around the world.”
ENDS
About Suil Vision
Suil Vision is dedicated to transforming how researchers interact with complex biological data. By leveraging cutting-edge virtual and augmented reality technologies, we develop intuitive, immersive tools that make it easier for scientists to navigate and analyse increasingly large datasets. Our goal is to reduce the time spent on data interpretation and unlock new insights, accelerating the pace of scientific discovery. Founded in 2024 with expertise in VR, spatial-omics, and cancer biology and support of Cancer Research Horizons based on Cancer Grand Challenges research, we are committed to creating solutions that democratize data analysis for researchers across disciplines, enabling breakthroughs in cancer research and beyond.
About Cancer Research Horizons
Cancer Research UK is one of the world’s largest non-profit investors in cancer research. Cancer Research UK has built a network of 4,000 exceptional scientists and now funds over £350m of world-class academic research each year that has the potential to change the way we prevent, diagnose and treat cancer. Cancer Research Horizons, Cancer Research UK’s innovation arm, offers the full spectrum of translational expertise, from drug discovery and clinical capabilities, translational funding and entrepreneurial training to licensing, industry collaboration and start- up creation expertise. It has played a role in the creation of 79 start-ups, with its portfolio companies raising over £3bn in total capital. Its dedicated Ventures team focuses on early-stage, high-risk companies, including one of the most challenging stages or start-up creation: attracting early-stage risk capital. The Ventures team manages the Cancer Research Horizons Seed Fund, launched in June 2022, to accelerate more breakthroughs to patient benefit.
About Cancer Grand Challenges
Co-founded in 2020 by two of the largest funders of cancer research in the world: Cancer Research UK and the National Cancer Institute, Cancer Grand Challenges supports a global community of interdisciplinary, world-class research teams to come together, think differently and take on some of cancer’s toughest challenges. These are the obstacles that continue to impede progress, and no one scientist, institution, or country will be able to solve them alone. With awards of up to £20m, Cancer Grand Challenges teams are empowered to rise above the traditional boundaries of geography and discipline to make the progress against cancer we urgently need.
Every two years, Cancer Grand Challenges invites the global research community and patient advocates to share their views on the greatest obstacles standing in the way of making vital progress against cancer. The Cancer Grand Challenges Scientific Committee, comprising some of the world's most eminent researchers, then meets to discuss and debate the ideas submitted and recommends to Cancer Research UK a set of complex challenges, that it believes can be solved. Cancer Research UK and the National Cancer Institute make the final decision on which challenges should be posed to the research community.
International teams are then invited to apply for up to £20m in funding to support innovative, interdisciplinary research to solve them, with the successful teams announced the following year.
Contact
Owen Harris
Suil Vision
[email protected]
