Cancer Research Horizons launches start-up Suil Vision to develop virtual reality data visualisation tool

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.”