DKFZ Spinoff Company 'Mint Medical' To Win High-tech Award of Baden-Württemberg
Mint Medical GmbH, a spinoff from the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) has received the CyberOne Special Award of the State of Baden-Württemberg today. The € 5,000 award recognizes innovative business ideas, methods and solutions in the technology sector. It is awarded annually by the ‘Baden-Württemberg: Connected’ (bwcon) business initiative.
Spatial representation of a pancreatic tumor (light green, center) and neighboring organs and blood vessels. The 3D image was produced by software developed by scientists at DKFZ for exceptionally efficient and exact evaluation of medical image data. Picture source: Mint Medical GmbH
© dkfz.de
Researchers of the Division of Medical and Biological Informatics at DKFZ founded Mint Medical GmbH in March 2010. DKFZ has partial ownership of the company. Mint Medical develops and distributes software which enables doctors to analyze medical image data in an extremely exact and efficient manner. There is a strong demand for such software solutions, because advanced imaging technologies such as computer tomography and magnetic resonance imaging produce an overwhelming wealth of image data of the inside of the body. These data need to be evaluated in the best possible manner in order to yield a meaningful picture so that doctors are able to make an exact diagnosis and, thus, provide the best possible treatment for their patients.
For this purpose, Mint Medical has developed various software products. The “Mint Lesion Analyzer” facilitates monitoring of cancer treatment. It allows doctors to tell whether a tumor has really shrunk as a result of therapy. “Mint Liver” is a tool which supports the diagnosis and treatment of liver diseases. It provides spatial reconstructions of a patient’s liver and simulates different surgical interventions. Thus, doctors can determine beforehand which operation promises the best results. “Mint Nauris”, a product planned to be released in the medium term, supports lung surgery. It visualizes the current position of the surgical instrument during endoscopic surgery on the basis of 3-dimensional image data of the patient.
The CyberOne special award jurors deemed Mint Medical the most convincing of over 60 applications and awarded the CyberOne High-tech Award of the State of Baden-Württemberg to the company. The award not only comprises an award sum of 5,000 euros, winners also have the opportunity of presenting themselves to a panel of jurors consisting of business experts, researchers and venture capitalists and having their business concept reviewed. Moreover, they are now a member of Europe’s largest technology industry network.
A picture for this press release is available at:
http://www.dkfz.de/de/presse/pressemitteilungen/2010/images/pancreas-tumor.jpg
Picture caption: Spatial representation of a pancreatic tumor (light green, center) and neighboring organs and blood vessels. The 3D image was produced by software developed by scientists at DKFZ for exceptionally efficient and exact evaluation of medical image data.
Picture source: Mint Medical GmbH
With more than 3,000 employees, the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) is Germany’s largest biomedical research institute. DKFZ scientists identify cancer risk factors, investigate how cancer progresses and develop new cancer prevention strategies. They are also developing new methods to diagnose tumors more precisely and treat cancer patients more successfully. The DKFZ's Cancer Information Service (KID) provides patients, interested citizens and experts with individual answers to questions relating to cancer.
To transfer promising approaches from cancer research to the clinic and thus improve the prognosis of cancer patients, the DKFZ cooperates with excellent research institutions and university hospitals throughout Germany:
The DKFZ is 90 percent financed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and 10 percent by the state of Baden-Württemberg. The DKFZ is a member of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers.
