Spinout News / UCLB News
Endomag pioneer’s achievements in commercialising breast cancer diagnostic technology recognised with UCL ‘impact’ award
5 February 2025

Professor Quentin Pankhurst from the London Centre for Nanotechnology has won a prestigious UCL Knowledge Exchange Award at the 2025 Creating Impact Through Knowledge Exchange Awards in a ceremony held at the University of London’s Senate House.
The award recognises the life-changing impact that Professor Pankhurst has brought about through the success of his spinout ‘Endomag’ which was formed with support from UCLB to commercialise his research into the use of magnetic ‘tracer’ technology in breast cancer diagnosis.
Endomag’s journey began with a simple yet profound idea: to use magnetics to eliminate the need for radioactivity in breast cancer staging. This vision, spearheaded by Professor Pankhurst led to the creation of Magtrace a fluid containing magnetic particles, and the Sentimag platform, a highly sensitive magnetic sensing device which together provide surgeons with a non-radioactive alternative for ‘sentinel lymph node biopsies’.
This procedure is crucial for determining whether breast cancer has spread from the primary tumor site into the lymphatic system. Unlike traditional methods that rely on radioactive isotopes, Magtrace offers a longer shelf-life and can be injected well in advance of surgery, making it accessible to clinics without nuclear medicine facilities. This means it not only improves the accuracy and efficiency of breast cancer staging but has also makes the procedure much more accessible to patients. As a result, Magtrace and Sentimag have become the global gold standard for breast cancer staging and has been used in over 550,000 patients worldwide.
UCLB’s Managing Director Steven Schooling said: “I’ve had the pleasure of working with Quentin since the inception of Endomag. Here we are two-decades on, and the spinout is now making huge steps to advance the treatment of breast cancer. The commercial success of Endomag has enabled hundreds of thousands of women to benefit from this game-changing technology and that human impact is a great exemplar of the benefits of commercialising UCL’s ground-breaking academic research.”
UCL is one of the top universities in the country for knowledge exchange and innovation (KEI). The annual awards ceremony, held 4 February, recognises the achievements of UCL staff (academic and professional services), students and alumni in relation to knowledge exchange and impact activity at UCL.
Read our Endomag case study here.