Re-inventing
Positron Emission Tomography

Our mission is to challenge the status quo in cancer detection by maximizing patient throughput and making PET scans safer for children and other vulnerable groups.

Our CEO has spent the last 40 years conducting R&D in the field of scintillators for fundamental physics and medical imaging.

Our goal is to use metamaterial technologies to drastically improve patient throughput and reduce risk of induced cancer by PET scan radiation, especially for children.

Taking Positron Emission Tomography a leap forward

A positron emission tomography (PET) scan is an imaging modality widely used for the diagnosis, patient staging and treatment follow-up of a number of diseases, such as cancer, cardiovascular and brain degenerative diseases.
A PET scan uses radioactive substances (tracers) which gather in areas of disease prevalence in the body and show up as bright spots. Advances in PET image reconstruction have allowed systems called time-of-flight (TOF) PET to offer higher image quality for more accurate detection of masses and lesions than conventional PET scans.

Multiwave’s know-how & metamaterial design software aims to take this technology to 100ps & subsequently 10ps timing performance.

MetaCrystal

Improving timing performance of Time-of-Flight PET (TOF-PET) scanners is key to increasing their effective sensitivity with the immediate consequence of producing better quality images, dramatically reducing the radiotracer doses injected to the patient and opening PET protocols to new categories of patients (pregnant women, pediatric, neonatal and even fetus examinations).

Standard scintillators are reaching their limits and will not be able to break the 200ps barrier with existing technology. The potential to reach sub 100ps has been demonstrated by Paul Lecoq in published work* funded by an ERC grant while at CERN.

* P. Lecoq, “Pushing the Limits in Time-of-Flight PET Imaging”.
IEEE Trans. On Rad. and Plasma Med. Sci. Vol. 1, N°6, p 473, Nov 2017
R.M. Turtos, S. Gundacker, E. Auffray & P. Lecoq, “Towards a metamaterial approach for fast timing in
PET: experimental proof-of-concept”, 2019 Phys. Med. Biol. in press
https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6560/ab18b3
R.M. Turtos, P. Lecoq et al., “On the use of CdSe scintillating nanoplatelest as time taggers for high-
energy gamma detection”, Submitted to Nature Photonics, March 2019.

Impact & benefits

Care standard & Costs

Reaching or breaking the 100 pico-second CTR in TOF-PET will greatly improve the standard of care and reduce costs to heath systems.

Improved image quality

A TOF-PET scanner targeting 100ps coincidence time resolution (CTR) would more than double the effective sensitivity compared to the best commercially available machine today and be 5 times more sensitive than a PET with no TOF capability (fifteen-fold improvement with CTR of 10ps), opening the way to in-vivo molecular imaging studies at the sub-picomolar level.

Reduce dosage of radioactive substances to patients

Achieving 100pico-seconds CTR will also drastically reduce dosage of radioactive substances. Radiation exposure can be a serious concern for adult and particularly children patients due to the ionizing nature of PET radiation. One PET scan is equivalent to the radiation exposure of 160 transatlantic flights from London to New York. ** Achieving 10ps resolution will reduce the dosage to an equivalent of 1 transatlantic flight.

“Dosage optimization in positron emission tomography: state-of-the-art methods and future prospects”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4620179/

Wider population reach

Every year, about 10 million PET procedures are performed, sometimes combined with CT and MRI. Reducing dosage amounts per PET scan means opening TOF-PET to natal and neo-natal examinations, opening the imaging modality to a much wider population.


Benefits for health systems

A cyclotron produces radiotracers for delivery to hospitals. The radius is limited by the half life of the radioactive dosage. Beyond a 200km radius, the dosage is not sufficient to perform a scan.

Improving crystal design extends the reach of the radiotracer to 500km by requiring lower radioactive dosages per scan.

Timeline
March 2015

Panos & Tryfon found Multiwave Technologies AG (Geneva) to develop metamaterial technologies

June 2016

Partnership with Imperial College London on metamaterial algorithms

September 2017

Partnership with Institut Fresnel and Aix Marseille University on optical metamaterials

November 2017

First published article demonstrating the potential to reach 10ps timing performance in TOF-PET

August 2019

Multiwave Technologies AG spins-off activity on metamaterial applications for positron emission tomography

September 2019

Prof. Paul Lecoq joins as co-CEO to drive research in metamaterial scintillators for radiation detectors. Prof. Lecoq is the head of physics of the European Academy of Sciences and a CERN honorary member

November 2019

Partnership with i3M laboratory, a mixed lab of CSIC and Valencia Polytechnic University in Spain to form a metamaterial lab for time of flight PET applications

February 2020

Mr Konstantinou joins company as Head of R&D

February 2020

Joint patent filed between Multiwave and i3M on metamaterial scintillators for time of flight PET scanners

January 2021

Metacrystal files new patent on photonic crystals for scintillators

Core Team
Prof. Paul Lecoq, PhD
Co-CEO

Paul dedicated his 40-year career to the field of medical physics at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research.  His work on particle physics dete...

Prof. Paul Lecoq, PhD
Co-CEO
Paul dedicated his 40-year career to the field of medical physics at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. 
 
His work on particle physics detectors focused on applications in medical imaging. His research findings continue to inspire several groups around the world working on improving the sensitivity and performance of PET scanners. His work on detector instrumentation and particularly on heavy inorganic scintillator materials has received strong support from Nobel Laureates, Carlo Rubia and Georges Charpak. While at CERN, his work played an important role in the discovery of the Higgs boson. 
 
Paul is the head of the physics division of the European Academy of Sciences, a fellow of the prestigious IEEE association and a founder of the European Center for Research in Medical Imaging. Throughout his career he has maintained strong contacts with major original equipment manufacturers and continues to nurture these relationships for Multiwave Metacrystal.
 
Prof. Lecoq received his diploma as Engineer in Physics Instrumentaiton at the Ecole Polythecnique of Grenoble in 1972 under the leadership of Nobel Laureate Louis Néel. He obtained his PhD in nuclear physics in 1974 from the Nuclear Physics Laboratory of the University of Montreal, Canada.
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Georgios Konstantinou, PhD
CTO

Georgios joined Multiwave Metacrystal SA as CTO after running his own deep-tech startup, SensYnc, in the field of positron emission tomography. SensYnc was r...

Georgios Konstantinou, PhD
CTO
Georgios joined Multiwave Metacrystal SA as CTO after running his own deep-tech startup, SensYnc, in the field of positron emission tomography. SensYnc was recently acquired by Multiwave Metacrystal SA. At Multiwave Metacrystal, Georgios leads the analysis, testing and development of metamaterial-based ultra-fast block detectors for positron emission tomography. 

Georgios is an electronics engineer specialized in applied physics instrumentation. He started his career in 2009 at CERN, developing electronics for both low-level RF control for the proton synchrotron, the accelerator feeding particles to the LHC, as well as for the straw tracker of the ultra-rare kaon experiment NA62.

Building on this experience, in 2014 he earned a Marie Sklodowska Curie fellowship that led to his doctoral thesis concerned with the transdisciplinary application of novel technologies for the development of next generation MR compatible PET inserts, which he received in 2017 with honors. During this time, he was awarded the IEEE 1st NPSS student award in 2015, in San Diego, wrote several papers and is the first author of 2 patents related to detector and system development aspects of PET. 

Being interested in all aspects of technology, Georgios spent a year as a patent examiner at the European Patent Office.

He left the EPO to found his own startup in 2019 on the development of a commercial PET system. Throughout his work experience, he developed unique knowledge in patent examination, leading multidisciplinary research projects, developing a system prototype for commercial use and nurturing a research and customer network. Georgios participated in the European Institute for Innovation and Technology Healthcare network.
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Riccardo Latella
Engineer

Riccardo joined Multiwave Metacrystal as a Research and development engineer in 2021 from the German semiconductor manufacturer Infineon Technologies where h...

Riccardo Latella
Engineer
Riccardo joined Multiwave Metacrystal as a Research and development engineer in 2021 from the German semiconductor manufacturer Infineon Technologies where he designed integrated circuits and laser drivers for LiDAR systems. His current position focuses on research, design and development of ultimate timing testing setups and metascintillator read-out systems, in the joint metascintillator development laboratory at I3M in Valencia, Spain. Riccardo holds a BSc and MSc in electronics engineering from the Polytechnic of Milan where he designed a multi-chip low-side laser driver in a System On Package for LiDAR Applications. He is experienced in electronic laboratory settings and analog PCB design for time-critical applications, while his research interests further include scintillators, semiconductors, solid-state physics, GaN technology and LiDAR systems.
In his spare time, he designs drones and plays competitive volleyball.
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Board of directors
Panos Antonakakis
Co-founder & Chairman

Panos is co-founder and Chairman of Multiwave Technologies AG, a deep-science metamaterial technology company which he co-founded with his brother Tryfon in ...

Panos Antonakakis
Co-founder & Chairman
Panos is co-founder and Chairman of Multiwave Technologies AG, a deep-science metamaterial technology company which he co-founded with his brother Tryfon in March 2015. 

Panos started his career as an entrepreneur in Canada where he co-founded his first venture in the field of finance at the age of 22. At the age of 24, he went on to pursue a career as an economist and earned his stripes at the World Trade Organization (WTO) where he focused on development economics and technical assistance for least-developed countries from 2002-2010. While at the WTO, Panos was also a director of the WTO Pension Fund.

He then worked for a leading FMCG company in London where he established the company’s international trade practice from 2010-2014. During his time there, he was also investment director of the company's pension fund ($3 billion assets under management).

Since 2015, Panos has leveraged his network in tech and venture capital to gather momentum in support of cutting-edge science. 

Panos speaks French, English and Greek and is proficient in Spanish. He is a Greek, Canadian and Swiss national. He earned his BA and MA in Economics at McGill University and Concordia University, respectively.


Panos played Varsity Tennis and Soccer at McGill in consecutive years between 1996 and 2000 and was Vice-President of McGill's Entrepreneur's club. Outside his business interests, Panos is a keen tennis player, a downhill skier and used to run marathons.
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Tryfon Antonakakis
Co-founder & board member

Tryfon is co-founder and ceo of Multiwave Technologies, a deep-tech metamaterial company which he founded with his brother panos in march 2015. Tryfon & ...

Tryfon Antonakakis
Co-founder & board member
Tryfon is co-founder and ceo of Multiwave Technologies, a deep-tech metamaterial company which he founded with his brother panos in march 2015. Tryfon & Panos co-founded Multiwave Metacrystal sa in 2019 as a spin-out from Multiwave Technologies AG.
Tryfon started his career as a professional skier competing for greece at world championship and world cup mogul competitions. He stopped competing in 2010 to work as a research associate at cern where he used mathematical modelling to design particle beam dumps for the large hadron collider. while at cern for 4 years, he completed a phd in applied mathematics at imperial college London and went on to work at that university as a post-doctorate research associate for a year. at the same time, he was tempted by algorithmic finance and joined hedge fund 80 capital from 2013-2014. 

Tryfon is motivated by engineering and physics applications in nuclear medicine. they include the development of software for the design of metamaterials used to enhance the performance of MRI and pet devices with the ultimate purpose of developing technologies that will improve patient care.  

Tryfon obtained a phd in applied mathematics from imperial college London, where he was awarded the Yael Dowker centenary prize for the best phd thesis in the department of mathematics. prior to that, he earned a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Swiss federal institute of technology in Lausanne (epfl) and a bachelor of mechanical engineering from McGill university.

Tryfon set himself apart as the first greek professional mogul skier, competed for the McGill track & field varsity team from 2001-2002. On his spare time, Tryfon enjoys the water ramp, track and field, tennis and basketball.
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Scientific board
Jose Maria Benlloch
Scientific advisor

José M. Benlloch is Full Professor (Tenure Research Scientist) at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). He worked in particle detectors at CERN (Gene...

Jose Maria Benlloch
Scientific advisor
José M. Benlloch is Full Professor (Tenure Research Scientist) at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). He worked in particle detectors at CERN (Geneva, Switzerland, 87'-90' and 96'-98') and at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Chicago, USA, 1991-1995). His PhD thesis (1990) was on the first data taken by the DELPHI collaboration of the LEP accelerator at CERN, and determined indirectly the number of light neutrino generations and the top quark mass. Later, he was member of the CDF collaboration that discovered in 1995 the top quark, one of the 12 elementary particles that constitute matter. He worked as Staff member of the Massachussetts Institute of Technology (1991-1995) under the direction of Jerome Friedman (Nobel Laureate in Physics, 1990). In 1996 he comes back to CERN in order to perform research on radiation detectors in the groups of F. Sauli and T. Ypsilantis. When he returned to Spain in 1999, he started a research group on Medical Imaging. Since then, he has developed several medical imaging diagnostic devices based on the detection of gamma rays, X-rays, and magnetic resonance. 

Author of around 300 articles in international peer reviewed publications, with an H index of 76. Advisor of 10 PhD theses. Author of more than 20 patents related to imaging equipment for medical diagnosis. Founder and director of the Institute for Instrumentation in Molecular Imaging (I3M) in 2010. He received from Felipe VI, King of Spain, the National Research Award "Leonardo Torres Quevedo" in 2014, and from Juan Carlos I, former King of Spain, the "Rey Jaime I" award in 2008.

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Prof. Richard V. Craster
Scientific advisor

Professor Richard V. Craster is the Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences at Imperial College London. He is also the director of the CNRS-Imperial “Abraham...

Prof. Richard V. Craster
Scientific advisor
Professor Richard V. Craster is the Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences at Imperial College London. He is also the director of the CNRS-Imperial “Abraham de Moivre” joint research institute. Previously he was Head of Department of Mathematics at Imperial College London for 6 years. In addition to being a Professor of Applied Mathematics he is also a member of the Mechanical Engineering Department at Imperial. 

His research lies in the field of applied mathematics in particular wave mechanics, metamaterials, fluid mechanics and elasticity.

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Dr. Tarek Hijal
Scientific advisor

Dr Tarek Hijal is director of the division of radiation oncology of McGill University Health Centre and assistant professor in the department of oncology at ...

Dr. Tarek Hijal
Scientific advisor
Dr Tarek Hijal is director of the division of radiation oncology of McGill University Health Centre and assistant professor in the department of oncology at McGill University. In addition to clinical research in breast cancer, Dr Hijal is involved in clinical operations in radiation oncology. Prior to McGill, Dr Hijal completed a fellowship in breast and hematologic radiation oncology at the Institut Curie in Paris, France. During his fellowship, his research focused on hypofractionated radiotherapy and the use of simultaneous integrated boost in breast cancer. 
 
Dr Hijal recently co-founded the Health Informatics Group (HIG) together with Prof. Hendren and Dr Kildea from McGill’s computer science and medical physics departments respectively. Seed funded by the Q+ project of McGill University Health Centre, the company develops a personalized patient portal aiming to predict wait times before a patient starts radiation treatment and during visits to the cancer clinic. 


Before completing his degree in medicine and his residency in radiation oncology, Dr Hijal studied biochemistry at McGill University. His keen interest in healthcare management also led him to obtain a Master’s degree in healthcare economics, policy and management from the London School of Economics.
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Partnerships
Our News
News
Multiwave Metacrystal files patent on metamaterial scintillator
News
Multiwave Metacrystal signs agreement with I3M Institute in Valencia, Spain
News
Multiwave Metacrystal signs agreement with Institut Fresnel in Marseille, France
News
Multiwave Technologies was crowned Best Young SME by the European Commission