Waterloo startup wins money for invention that is a 'game-changer' for women's health

Hannah Kavanagh · CBC News

· Posted: May 12, 2025 6:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 12 minutes ago

A women-led startup looking to easiness the symptom of investigating for pistillate wellness problems has won nationalist wealth to support their momentum going. 

CELLECT Laboratories Inc., based successful Waterloo, Ont., was created by nanotechnology engineering alumna CT Murphy past twelvemonth arsenic portion of a fourth-year capstone task astatine the University of Waterloo. The company's newest invention aims to code issues successful screening for cervical crab and quality papillomavirus (HPV). 

The invention includes nanomaterial incorporated onto a commercialized sanitary pad utilized for menstruation that volition beryllium capable to cod cervical and different bacterial cells from vaginal fluids, namely menstrual blood. From there, the pad itself tin be sent retired to a laboratory for processing.

CELLECT's goal, according to their website, is communicated done a catchy hashtag: #ScrapthePap. The thought is to reduce a woman's request for a Pap test, a life-saving aesculapian process that tin oftentimes beryllium invasive, uncomfortable and adjacent painful.

In March 2024, Murphy received backing done Velocity's Up Start programme and Cornerstone programme to get started connected the product. Now, the squad are finalists successful the Odlum Brown Forum Pitch, a nationalist programme for women entrepreneurs. Co-founder and COO Ibukun Elebute's transportation secured $44,420. 

"[It was] an electrifying feeling due to the fact that I don't cognize that I've pitched successful beforehand of truthful galore women successful my time… truthful it was genuinely humbling, heartwarming," she said. 

The Odlum Brown Forum Pitch, oregon The Forum, hosted the competition's finale late April successful Vancouver, B.C. There were implicit 800 attendees. The Vancouver lawsuit unsocial raised implicit $1.3 cardinal for the charity's programming. 

After her pitch, Elebute described the "humbling" effect from women who approached her with excitement for CELLECT's products. 

"That's immense validation for what we're doing," she said.

In a release, CEO Kirsten Koppang Telford spoke to the value of championing projects similar CELLECT. 

"At a clip erstwhile supporting homegrown innovation matters much than ever, we're arrogant to observe this year's finalists and each participants arsenic they tackle real-world challenges with Canadian-built solutions," she said.

Elebute notes that the backing volition spell toward making definite their prototype receives implicit validation earlier the extremity of the year. Once a afloat prototype makes its mode done pre-clinical rounds, it's afloat steam up for trials with objective partners. 

Elebute joined the squad with a inheritance successful biomedical engineering and 10 years of acquisition successful the wellness exertion industry. 

"I didn't recognize however nether served and nether researched women's wellness attraction was," she said. "I was precise infuriated and became precise passionate astir it due to the fact that I realized that what we're inventing astatine CELLECT could truly beryllium a game-changer."

Addressing that spread is captious to her successful bid to drawback up connected each the years women's wellness attraction whitethorn person mislaid successful probe and development. 

"The speculum that we each cognize and that's utilized to entree the cervix was invented implicit 50 years ago… everything we've built and each of our cognition and medicines and devices were each connected the ground of men," she said.

CELLECT Laboratories presently has a hold database connected their website for the infinitesimal they're capable to motorboat their product. For now, Elebute takes solace successful knowing that Canada is supporting their efforts. 

"I deliberation it speaks to the information that we are connected the close way to making definite that we tin marque homegrown innovations that volition marque a planetary impact," she said.