2025 COMPAMED Innovation Forum Highlights Pioneering Work in Cancer Diagnostics

The incidence has risen in recent decades, not least on account of demographic change and escalating risk factors. Simultaneously, diagnostic methods are improving all the time, ensuring that cancer gets detected sooner and more frequently. Keeping pace with these developments, the 2025 COMPAMED Innovation Forum, organized by the International Microtechnology Business Network IVAM, was devoted to the very latest advancements in cancer diagnostics. Its participants peered into the future – with an eye not only to potentials and trends in medical technology, but also to COMPAMED (Düsseldorf, Germany), which will take place in trade fair halls 8a and 8b between 17 and 20 November in Düsseldorf. With its approximately 750 exhibiting companies, the leading international trade fair for suppliers to the medical technology industry, which is always held in parallel with the world’s leading medical trade fair, MEDICA, offers the full spectrum of materials, microtechnology, components, and services for use in the medical technology industry.

There were 19.3 million new cases of cancer and 10 million deaths globally in 2020, most frequently due to lung, breast, bowel, and prostate cancer. The most common tumor entities are carcinomas of the lungs, breast, bowel, and prostate. A considerable increase continues to be observable primarily in lung and liver cancer. Tobacco consumption, overweight, lack of exercise, chronic infections (such as those caused by Hepatitis B and C or HPV), unhealthy nutrition, and alcohol consumption are held to be the most significant risk factors for cancer. Further causes are rooted in environmental toxins and occupational exposure to carcinogenic substances. Genetic factors, along with ageing processes, favor the emergence and progression of tumors. In order to counter these developments, preventive measures are every bit as crucial as advancements in diagnostics and treatment. Tobacco and alcohol prevention, the promotion of an active lifestyle, vaccination programs, and health-promoting nutrition form the basis of the measures that are effective at the individual level. Parallel to those, research is aimed at early detection by means of biomarkers and high-resolution imaging, as well as at personalized treatment strategies that combine immunotherapy treatments with targeted active substances. Together, these aspects form a strategy to relieve the burden on healthcare systems and for the individual reduction of disease burden and suffering due to cancer.

At the 2025 COMPAMED Innovation Forum, six talks highlighted individual developments in cancer diagnostics and treatment. In his contribution, “Inflammation: It is a key role from oncogenesis to palliative treatment”, Dr. Coenraad K. van Kalken (Excellent Care Clinics/Remicine BioSciences) talked about inflammation before and during a case of cancer. He has been conducting research into cancer for more than 30 years and highlighted that stronger consideration needed to be given to immunological reactions. Since cancer was often only detected at a late stage, he explained, a look at inflammation processes inside the body could assist early detection. But he said that inflammation processes are also relevant once cancer takes hold: they contribute to the chronic fatigue experienced by cancer patients. To treat this fatigue, he is testing the use of the local anesthetic Lidocaine in a targeted lymphatic application. This originally comes from the treatment of Long Covid, and promising effects were also observed among tumor patients with chronic fatigue by van Kalken and his team. He explained that chronic inflammation, triggered by toxins from cigarette smoke, for instance, provokes continuous tissue damage, thereby promoting carcinogenesis. For that reason, he makes the call not only to incorporate cellular disease mechanisms, but also immunological processes in treatment and diagnostics.

Dr. Jan Lüddecke from Hahn-Schickard presented the latest advancements in research into extracellular vesicles (EV) in “Unlocking new liquid biopsy cancer markers with centrifugal microfluidics”. EVs are particles that are shed by all cells in the body and can be isolated from all body fluids in the form of biomarkers. Hitherto, there has been a lack of standardized methods for the isolation of extracellular vesicles from body fluids – which represents a focal obstacle to their widespread use in research and diagnostics. Lüddecke and his team are therefore working on a standardized, automated method for purification on the basis of the LabDisk technology from Hahn-Schickard. This involves purifying the sample via centrifugal forces. Using the compact LabDisk Player, single slices can be analyzed, while a pipetting robot – currently under development as a demonstrator – is able to work on multiple discs automatically. Future goals include EV isolation from whole blood and validation in clinical projects like KI-VesD, which is dedicated to monitoring prostate cancer.

In his contribution, “Innovative fiber solutions to enhance cancer diagnostics”, Dr. Viacheslav Artyushenko from art photonics outlined an optical method for intra-operative tumor demarcation. Polycrystalline infrared fibers are being developed by art photonics to that end. These fibers can be used as flexible probes in endoscopes and indicate temperature differences between tumorous and healthy tissue. A clinical study in Tel Aviv was able to distinguish among spectra of melanomas as well as basal and squamous cell carcinomas. With the Fiber Optic Molecular Sensor (FOMS), likewise under development at art photonics, various biomarkers in tumor tissue, such as glucose and water, can be detected in vitro so far. art photonics is also working on substituting spectrometers for cost-effective NIR LED sensors. These could be integrated with remote surgery applications, for example.

In “Pioneering photonic solutions for revolutionizing early diagnostics”, Anke Schütz-Trilling from Surfix presented a point-of-care platform for the rapid multiplex diagnosis of multiple biomarkers. The benchtop device from Surfix achieves laboratory precision for up to five biomarkers in only 15 minutes. Selective chip coating by Surfix makes it possible to detect proteins and metabolites circulating in the blood in low concentrations. Surfix is a partner in the PHOBICCS project, working on the development of a photonic biosensor for the improved early detection of bowel oedema. In the YOLOFITIS project, the company’s focus is a cortisol measuring system. The purpose of this is to monitor adrenal insufficiency (Addison’s disease), which can also occur as a side-effect of cancer immunotherapy.

In “Quantum microscopy for cancer diagnosis”, Dr. Valerio Gili from Fraunhofer IOF expounded on quantum microscopy’s potential for oncology. He explained that quantum effects in imaging enhance resolution, improve the signal-to-noise ratio, enable imaging in the near-infrared range, and can even be applied in poor lighting. Fraunhofer IOF is currently researching a method of non-linear interferometry using twin photons. This allows the imaging of objects that have never directly interacted with photons. The institute aims to develop the currently experimental set-up into a tenable system, as it pursues its long-term goal of integrated quantum imaging systems.

The focus of Samantha Paoletti, from CSEM, in “Innovative technologies for personalized cancer care: Advancing detection and treatment,” was on the automation and standardization of work with tumor organoids. These can be used as a pre-clinical test system for active substances. On commencing, she pointed out the high costs of pharmaceutical development and explained that animal models are never able to accurately depict the reactions of the human organism, which is one reason for the failure of numerous active substance developments. CSEM has developed a microplate that stimulates the vascularization of organoids by means of a continuous, directed flow of media, and therefore enables patient-specific models with immune and vascular components. This technology is intended to improve the informative value of in vitro tests and increase the efficiency of active substance development.

It became apparent that interdisciplinary approaches in microtechnology, photonics, quantum physics, and biotechnology are crucial for optimizing the diagnosis and treatment of cancer and thus raising survival rates among cancer patients. Therefore, the central focus also lies on the competence of the medical technology industry’s supply sector – an innovative sector that will again showcase itself and its developments at COMPAMED 2025.

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