Waterloo startup making international waves in cervical cancer screening
Posted Jun 5, 2026 05:56:02 AM.
Last Updated Jun 8, 2026 03:17:05 PM.
It could be a game-changer for women’s health.
A medical device that works with menstrual products to scan for cervical cancer and numerous other conditions. That is exactly what the team at CELLECT Laboratories in Waterloo is looking to do.
It’s a nanotech device that can be stuck onto a pad and would essentially be able to replace a Pap test. COO and Co-Founder Ibukun Elebute explains how it works.
“We are able to extract and stabilize the biologicals present in menstrual effluent so that it’s easily usable in the lab for analysis of things like HPV, STIs, essentially cervical cancers and various other conditions.”
For women over 25-years-old in Ontario, it’s recommended to have a Pap test every three years. It’s a process where a speculum and scraping device are used to collect samples of the cervix.
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Elebute said the painful and invasive nature of the procedure leads to many women skipping the process altogether.
Their own survey shows three in five women who are due for a screening are not getting one. Early detection of cervical cancer has a 91 per cent survival rate, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Elebute noted the research is not only more cost-effective for the healthcare system but is also moving the needle forward when it comes to women’s health.
“It is a wave that we do not see dying anytime soon. In fact, one of the things we want to be able to push and inspire is more and more women’s health innovations out of Canada, out North America, and worldwide in general.”
She added they have received significant support for the device, not only in funding but from the community as well. Thousands of interactions online and millions of views on social media posts are flooded with women looking to get their hands on the product.
Elebute said that it could still be a year to a year-and-a-half out, based on the numerous clinical hurdles left to work through.
The Canadian Cancer Society says an estimated 1,700 women in Canada will be diagnosed with cervical cancer this year alone, and an estimated 450 will die from it.
