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Micro-X is an Adelaide based x-ray technology company, pioneering a new era in x-ray imaging. The company was established in 2012 to bring the benefits of electronically controlled, carbon nanotube field emission technology to the x-ray space in both medical and security/defence applications. The company designs, develops and manufactures a range of ultra-lightweight, mobile x-ray imaging systems that change the way that x-ray devices can be used in these areas. The resulting products are competitive in both usability and in price, meaning the technology is user friendly and accessible to a broad range of markets.
Micro-X’s first product is a mobile medical x-ray machine, manufactured for the Global market leader in the mobile medical x-ray space, Carestream Health Inc, under a world-wide OEM agreement. The unit is light-weight and addresses a huge workflow challenge in mobile radiology. Existing technology is large and cumbersome, causing radiographers injury and discomfort and presenting risk to patients with IV lines in crowded hospital ICUs. The company’s second medical product, currently in its final stage of development, is a mobile unit designed for deployed military hospitals, providing a replacement for current x-ray capability which relies on deployed veterinary equipment, due to weight and manoeuvrability restrictions that preclude the use of existing heavy, motorised equipment.
In the security space Micro-X is developing a Mobile backscatter imaging device for the standoff detection of explosives in suspicious bags or packages. This product enables remote threat detection via mounting on an Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Robot and removes the need for a bomb technician to risk their own safety and approach a suspected threat to position an imaging plate and x-ray source.
Beyond these projects, Micro-X’s engineering team is conducting early feasibility investigation into a number of new product opportunities in response to identified market gaps and challenges, as well as a number of solicitations. Initial concepts were outlined at the annual Bioshares Biotechnology Summit in New Zealand recently, including portable 3-D brain-imaging for early stroke diagnosis in ambulances, 3-D breast imaging system for breast screening without painful breast compression, and bedside CT imaging for use in ICU environments where patients cannot be safely transported to a conventional CT facility. The objective of these feasibility assessments is to enable the best product investment and corresponding return to be prioritised for resource allocation.
