Woman wins £50,000 for research into early detection of ovarian cancer

Shannon Beattie, the chief operating officer of a Queen's University spin-off company which has been working on a project that will aid in the early diagnosis of ovarian cancer, will be awarded £50,000 for her efforts in the field.

Her firm called GenoME Diagnostics which is based out of Belfast, has been working on developing novel blood tests for an earlier and accurate diagnosis of ovarian cancer.

She is one of the 39 female British entrepreneurs who will be honoured in Innovate UK's "Women in Innovation" awards to mark International Women's Day on Tuesday.

"At present, most cases of ovarian cancer are not spotted until a woman has reached the later stages of the disease. In stage three, there is roughly a 20% chance of survival, while for stage four, it is even less. So, there is clearly an urgent need to develop more effective tests," Beattie told The Guardian.

She and her team have been focusing on the most aggressive subtypes of ovarian cancer which accounts for almost 70 percent of cases and is known as high-grade serous carcinoma.

"It is not just early detection that we are developing," she adds. "Current tests also trigger many false positives and that causes a lot of stress for women who are told, incorrectly, that they may have ovarian cancer, only to discover much later that they are actually unaffected by the condition."

There are no approved screening tests to detect ovarian cancers in women who have no symptoms of the disease. The risk of getting the disease increases when you are around 45 years of age.

"Earlier detection of ovarian cancer would make a crucial difference in treating the disease. It would allow doctors to treat tumors when they are small and have not spread to other parts of the body. That makes it much easier to eradicate them," adds Beattie.

Innovate UK offers at least 20 Women in Innovation Awards to female entrepreneurs across the United Kingdom. The funding is meant for female founders, co-founders, or senior decision-makers who have been making significant contributions to society through their ideas.