Pioneering systems to help doctors in their fight against cancer were displayed by an Oxford company at three international exhibitions last week.

Mirada, based at Oxford Innovation Centre in Mill Street, Osney, was set up by Oxford University medical researchers who use clever mathematics and software to improve scanner images used to diagnose tumours.

The most common scanners -- CT and MRI -- are good at showing bone and other hard tissue, but poor at highlighting tumours.

Mirada has just gained approval of the US regulators to market its Fusion7D system, which helps doctors to locate a tumour precisely and attack it without damaging surrounding tissue.

It was on display to 8,000 visitors at the world's largest nuclear medicine congress in Los Angeles last week, and at the UK Radiological Congress in Birmingham, UK. Another of Mirada's key products, VirtualMammo -- a simulation tool to train radiographers to take good breast X-rays -- is helping to address the shortage of technicians to take mammograms to detect breast cancer.

It was launched on the US market last week in Birmingham, Alabama.

Dr Wilson praised the innovation centre as a factor in Mirada's success -- it has expanded from three to 20 staff in less than three years.

"We gain from being in a community of like-minded entrepreneurs, with easy access to vital business contacts, funding and advice services," he said.

"The innovation centre has given us the best start and provides premises and services to meet our needs as we expand."