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

A women-led startup looking to ease the pain of testing for female health problems has won national money to keep their momentum going. 

CELLECT Laboratories Inc., based in Waterloo, Ont., was created by nanotechnology engineering alumna CT Murphy last year as part of a fourth-year capstone project at the University of Waterloo. The company's newest invention aims to address issues in screening for cervical cancer and human papillomavirus (HPV). 

The invention includes nanomaterial incorporated onto a commercial sanitary pad used for menstruation that will be able to collect cervical and other bacterial cells from vaginal fluids, namely menstrual blood. From there, the pad itself can be sent out to a lab for processing.

CELLECT's goal, according to their website, is communicated through a catchy hashtag: #ScrapthePap. The idea is to reduce a woman's need for a Pap test, a life-saving medical process that can oftentimes be invasive, uncomfortable and even painful.

In March 2024, Murphy received funding through Velocity's Up Start program and Cornerstone program to get started on the product. Now, the team are finalists in the Odlum Brown Forum Pitch, a national program for women entrepreneurs. Co-founder and COO Ibukun Elebute's pitch secured $44,420. 

"[It was] an electrifying feeling because I don't know that I've pitched in front of so many women in my time… so it was truly humbling, heartwarming," she said. 

The Odlum Brown Forum Pitch, or The Forum, hosted the competition's finale late April in Vancouver, B.C. There were over 800 attendees. The Vancouver event alone raised over $1.3 million for the charity's programming. 

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

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

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

"At a time when supporting homegrown innovation matters more than ever, we're proud to celebrate this year's finalists and all participants as they tackle real-world challenges with Canadian-built solutions," she said.

Elebute notes that the funding will go toward making sure their prototype receives complete validation before the end of the year. Once a full prototype makes its way through pre-clinical rounds, it's full steam ahead for trials with clinical partners. 

Elebute joined the team with a background in biomedical engineering and 10 years of experience in the health technology industry. 

"I didn't realize how under served and under researched women's health care was," she said. "I was very infuriated and became very passionate about it because I realized that what we're inventing at CELLECT could really be a game-changer."

Addressing that gap is critical to her in order to catch up on all the years women's health care may have lost in research and development. 

"The speculum that we all know and that's used to access the cervix was invented over 50 years ago… everything we've built and all of our knowledge and medicines and devices were all on the basis of men," she said.

CELLECT Laboratories currently has a wait list on their website for the moment they're able to launch their product. For now, Elebute takes solace in knowing that Canada is supporting their efforts. 

"I think it speaks to the fact that we are on the right track to making sure that we can make homegrown innovations that will make a global impact," she said.