Iatia's technology wins R&D 100 Award

Melbourne vision sciences company Iatia (ASX:IAT) has taken out the top award for optical imaging technology in a prestigious international competition.

In what has been a busy year for the recently listed company, Iatia was this week named a winner in the R&D 100 Awards.

The awards, established in 1963, recognise the developers of the top 100 technologically significant products introduced into the marketplace over the past year and have in the past recognised such breakthroughs as the automatic teller machine, nicotine patch and Taxol anti-cancer drug.

In the latest round of awards, Iatia has been recognised for the development of QPm, a software and hardware product that optimises optical microscopy.

Based on an algorithm developed at the University of Melbourne, QPm provides a digital solution to phase contrast imaging, allowing scientists to visualise samples to a much greater degree than through previous methods.

The product was launched in the United States in November 2001 and has since been released in Japan, South East Asia and Europe.

The co-inventor of the technology on which QPm is based, Prof Keith Nugent said: "Those of us involved in the development of QPm knew we had something special, but to have it recognised in such celebrated company is particularly gratifying."