Marah Alassaf has long been interested in applying engineering and digital health solutions to cancer detection. That took on a more personal dimension during her undergraduate studies in Syria, when two women she knew, both in their early thirties, were suddenly diagnosed with breast cancer.
Marah, now in the final year of her PhD, said: “Seeing their experiences really challenged my understanding of the disease. Both the friend and neighbour seemed healthy and active, but because routine screening isn’t usually offered to younger women and alternative options were limited, their cancers were diagnosed at a later stage. That motivated me to explore how technology could support earlier detection, especially for women who might otherwise be overlooked.”
Building on her engineering background, Marah completed an MSc in Advanced Microelectronic Systems Engineering at the University of Bristol, supported by a Think Big postgraduate scholarship. That led to a PhD at the UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Digital Health and Care, where she began translating her research ideas into tangible tools.
“What started as a research idea evolved into a determination to develop practical, non-invasive wearable solutions for earlier cancer detection,” she said.
Supported by her supervisor Dr Faezeh Arab Hassani, Senior Lecturer in Microelectronics, who leads a research team focusing on developing various flexible electronic devices for healthcare applications, Marah created an ultra-thin, flexible, non-invasive patch featuring nine flexible temperature sensors. The patch gently adheres to the skin and maps subtle temperature variations across the breast, which may signal underlying abnormalities. Cancer cells often grow and spread rapidly, increasing blood flow and metabolism in the affected area, leading to a slight localised rise in temperature.
Marah said: “I designed and fabricated this patch from scratch to conform naturally to the body and provide real-time mapping of subtle temperature variations across the breast surface. While still in early development, the goal is to explore how this low-cost, skin-like sensor patch could help broaden access to screening and complement existing tools.
“In the long term, it could support convenient at-home monitoring for higher-risk individuals, such as those with a family history or genetic predisposition, helping reduce the need for repeated clinical visits.”
In the summer Marah led and presented a research paper on this work at the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IEEE) International Conference on Flexible Printable Sensors and Systems (FLEPS) 2025 in Singapore, where it received second place in the Student Best Paper Award.
Breast cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women, with 2.3 million new cases and 670,000 deaths reported in 2022. Early detection significantly improves prognosis; however, conventional screening methods such as mammography, ultrasound, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are often hindered by high costs, limited accessibility, and patient discomfort. These limitations highlight the potential for non-invasive, cost-effective, and accessible technologies to complement existing diagnostic methods.
Study co-author Dr Hassani said: “Thermal imaging, or thermography, has long been used to detect abnormal heat patterns in the body. However, it typically requires specialised infrared cameras and clinical environments. This is a convenient, non-invasive innovation.
“Although still in development stages, the introduction of a temperature-sensing patch has the potential to complement mammography, the current standard for breast cancer screening, especially in low-resource healthcare settings where access to advanced imaging equipment may be limited.”
So far, the researchers have tested the patch on breast models designed to simulate tumours using controlled heat sources. The next step is to evaluate its performance on actual breast cancer cases to see how well it detects tumours in real-world conditions. Future work will also focus on enhancing image quality through increased sensor density, evaluating performance under mechanical deformation, and conducting extended testing to ensure long-term reliability for early-stage cancer detection.
The research was funded by Cancer Research UK and the UKRI EPSRC CDT in Digital Health and Care at the University of Bristol.
Executive Director of Research and Innovation at Cancer Research UK Dr Iain Foulkes, said: “Finding new and better ways to detect cases earlier is key in our mission to beat cancer. This is early-stage research, but this temperature-sensing patch technology could potentially be used alongside screening programmes and other tools to help us catch more cases of breast cancer sooner and save lives. It may also prove valuable in countries where access to traditional breast mammography is limited.”
For Marah, the invention marks the start of an exciting vocation, which will involve developing other pioneering digital health technologies.
She added: “I’m looking forward to rigorously testing the patch and have also been working on other wearable tools, including a glove with integrated sensors to support breast self-examination. Seeing prototypes from my hands-on studies at Bristol progress to real-world applications motivates me to continue refining and advancing this work.”
Professor Charlotte Deane, Executive Chair of UKRI EPSRC, said: “Supporting talented early career researchers to translate ideas into practical healthcare solutions is central to EPSRC’s mission.
“This pioneering work shows how engineering and digital health can combine to improve cancer detection and, ultimately, people’s lives.”
Paper
‘Flexible ultrathin temperature sensor array as a patch for early breast cancer detection’ by Marah Alassaf and Faezeh Arab Hassani presented at IEEE International Conference on Flexible Printable Sensors and Systems (FLEPS) 2025, 22-25 June 2025, Singapore: Proceedings of the IEEE FLEPS 2025 Conference.