Maxwell Plus, using AI in the fight against cancer
Maxwell Plus is a Brisbane-based startup applying AI to medical data to help find early signs of cancer which can lead to early, safer interventions.
Maxwell brings together my love of technology and its applications in helping make a serious change to the lives of millions of people.
Maxwell Plus started (as Maxwell MRI) mid-2016, shortly after finishing my PhD in designing the next generation of medical imaging equipment. My research looked at how to design MRI machines so they could be paired with radiation therapy for treatment.
This allowed images to better guide the radiation beam, getting it off healthy tissue. This technology worked well and has the potential to help a lot of people but relies on prior knowledge of where the tumor you want to treat is.
It was a conversation about this work that would eventually lead to Maxwell Plus. Talking about my PhD with Steve Baxter lead to the question “Why can’t we lie down in a machine, have data collected on us, and leave knowing what’s wrong with us and what we can do to fix it?” A good question. Over the next three months this question wouldn’t leave – a system like that was the technology-enabled future I wanted to create.
Fast forward two years and here we are. Maxwell Plus has gone through an accelerator program (RCL Accelerator – muru-D’s partner program in Brisbane), a round of venture funding (lead by Main Sequence Ventures) and has grown from two to 18 people.
Today we’re preparing our product for regulatory approval and working with some of the best clinicians across the world. We’ve been working with clinicians and patients to use AI to keep them healthy.
Working to create a world where diseases like cancer move out of the top 10 killers list and a world where medicine is about keeping people healthy, not just fixing them when they get sick.
There is still a long an exciting road ahead for us at Maxwell Plus but with great partners, a team of excellent people and passionate investors behind us, the future looks bright.
Published with permission from Telstra Exchange.