(Story and photo provided by the Center for Technology Commercialization; edited by Madison Startups)

Marvel Medtech is detecting breast cancer early and with minimal invasiveness with its interventional MRI technology. The Founder and Chief Technology Officer, Ray Harter, named the company Marvel, a tribute to his mother, who was a victim of breast cancer. Its technology allows for real-time MRI guidance, resulting in increased accuracy for breast cancer detection, and it has potential interventional capabilities across multiple soft-tissue based diseases.

“It’s been a very long process. I’ve been called stubborn, but I prefer the adjective ‘persistent’,” Harter said. “The window of opportunity for this interventional MRI is still open, and no one is yet to bring this sort of technology to practice.”

With funding from the National Cancer Institute, Marvel Medtech has worked in tandem with the University of Wisconsin and the University of Minnesota to develop a proof-of-concept prototype. Last year, Marvel Medtech received an SBIR Phase I grant for $300,000 with the help of a Center for Technology Commercialization/Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Network consultant.

Currently, Marvel Medtech employs about six engineers and consultants who continue to develop the MRI technology. Marvel Medtech also is working with CTC staff on acquiring SBIR Phase II funding for initial clinical studies and commercialization efforts.

“As a result of doing all of this engineering work, we’ve identified other potential product areas for MRI interventional technology,” Harter said. “Once we prove that it works well for the breast application, it opens up other avenues for clinical applications where MRI is the best option, and this could have a huge impact on the community at large.”