Ontario Invests $500K in Kingston Cancer Blood Test Tech

The Ontario government is investing half a million dollars into Kingston-based mDETECT labs, a Queen's University spin-off developing a minimally invasive blood test to monitor breast, lung, and prostate cancers.

Chief scientific officer Keira Frosst says the test can detect if a patient is responding to therapy up to six months earlier than CT scans, potentially sparing patients from ineffective treatments.

Unlike competitors that send samples to centralized U.S. labs, mDETECT keeps testing in-house at Canadian hospitals. President and CEO Dr. Christopher Meuller says the funding will accelerate clinical studies and commercialization.

Initially targeting metastatic cancer monitoring, the technology may eventually enable early detection of hard-to-find cancers like ovarian and pancreatic. Lung cancer tests are expected to roll out later this year, with breast cancer tests following in 2027.