Breath Biopsy pioneer wins Royal Academy of Engineering’s Silver Medal

Founder and CEO of Owlstone Medical, Billy Boyle, has been announced as the winner of the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Silver Medal, which recognises his work in the development of the company’s Breath Biopsy platform.

The biopsy platform is a miniature chemical sensor on a silicon chip, based on a technique called Field Asymmetric Ion Mobility Spectrometry (FAIMS). It is a sensitive and selective device that can be used for early detection of disease.

“Every time you breathe out there are thousands of chemicals on your breath; some are telltale markers of disease, which our Breath Biopsy platform is able to detect,” said Boyle. “Our vision is to change the way we currently diagnose and monitor serious disease; we aim to become the global leader in the non-invasive early detection and precision medicine for cancer, infectious disease and inflammatory disease.”

Owlstone Medical is running trials for the early detection of lung and colorectal cancer through breath analysis. These diseases, if detected early, could be cured with currently available treatments.

“This work is so pioneering that it was recently labelled as the next ‘unicorn’ coming out of the global tech industry,” added Professor Chris Toumazou, FREng, Regius Professor at Imperial College London. “Boyle is an absolute entrepreneur, pioneer and invetor and through his own personal endeavours has encouraged major research in the field of cancer. He has focused for years on deploying his technology, very successfully, in major hospitals and working with many companies and institutions. His amazing technology will save millions of lives in the next decade.”

Boyd will receive the award during the Academy Award dinner taking place in London today (29 June).