Breast Cancer Detecting Tool Dotplot Wins UK Dyson Award 2022

Shefali Bohra, a student of Indian descent, and Debra Babalola, a co-designer from Imperial College London, have won this year's James Dyson Award for creating a  breast-checking device that creates a personalised map of the torso to monitor for lumps.

The James Dyson Award, established by the British inventor and billionaire of the same name, one of the richest persons in Britain, is an annual international design award open to college students or recent graduates. An international student design competition that offers a cash prize pushes young people to design something that solves a problem. Students majoring in product design, industrial design, or engineering at the university level (or recent graduates) are eligible to enter the competition.

Shefali Bohra Breast Cancer Checking Device

Debra Babalola and Shefali Bohra, two recent graduates of Imperial College London and the Royal College of Art's Innovation Design Engineering programme, created Dotplot.

They discovered that there are many various techniques and contradictory information recommending women to undertake self-checks. However, there were no products in the market to help women perform a breast self-check at home. Dotplot's step-by-step instructions help users scan the breast tissue for lumps by just holding the gadget against the breast.

The device records the tissue composition of each spot on the breast using soundwaves, much like an ultrasound. At the conclusion of each check, the app also displays the results and provides a report that can be compared to data from earlier months to indicate how specific breast areas may be changing.

Dotplot could efficiently help women maintain a regular breast-self-check practice, which will aid in the early diagnosis of breast cancer.

'Dotplot is a breast health monitoring tool that we intend for women to use at home,' said Babalola. "And even though we're not replacing medical professionals, we are just enabling women to be confident in the self-checks that they're doing," she added.

Dotplot has won only the UK leg of the international competition, thus the work will now move on to the international stage. On October 12, the international shortlist will be released, and on November 16, the international winners.

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