Smart textiles bra to help detect cancer for women with intellectual disabilities
Published: 14 November 2025
Women with intellectual disabilities could receive added monitoring for breast cancer with the development of a smart textiles bra by researchers at the University of Glasgow and Nottingham Trent University (NTU).
Women with intellectual disabilities could receive added monitoring for breast cancer with the development of a smart textiles bra by researchers at the University of Glasgow and Nottingham Trent University (NTU).
Funded by Cancer Research UK, a team of scientists and designers are developing an electronic textile which would fit inside a bra and monitor whether a tumour is growing in real time, before alerting clinicians to potential risks.
Although women with intellectual disabilities have a lower incidence of breast cancer, they face significantly higher mortality rates due to barriers in accessing current screening methods.
The research is being developed by the Scottish Learning Disabilities Observatory at the University and NTU’s Medical Technologies Innovation Facility (MTIF) with an investment of around £100,000 from Cancer Research UK.
The technology uses a form of electrical current that can scan to spot subtle differences in body tissues. Because tumours tend to be denser and hold less water than healthy areas, the device can help differentiate them. The technology has the potential to detect growths as little as 5mm – enabling earlier detection and triggering other scans to be taken, such as MRI.
The device would record data and provide feedback via smartphone to the wearer, carers and clinicians so that assessments can be made.
It will be co-designed with input from women with intellectual disabilities, carers, and healthcare professionals to ensure usability and effectiveness. The research team says there’s potential for the technology to be developed as part of a new bra altogether, as well as an insert.
Cancer Research UK figures show, there are 56,900 new cases of breast cancer in the UK every year, with around 11,200 breast cancer deaths.
The research is led by Professor Deborah Cairns, Director of the University of Glasgow’s Scottish Learning Disabilities Observatory (SLDO) and Professor Yang Wei of the Nottingham School of Art & Design (NSA&D). The team includes co-investigators Professor Katherine Townsend, of the NSA&D and Professor John Hunt of MTIF; Researchers Shadrack Aboagye of the NSA&D; and Dr Lauren Fulton (SLDO).
Deborah Cairns, Professor of Health and Neurodevelopmental Conditions and Director of the SLDO at the University’s School of Health and Wellbeing, said: “Compared to the general population, women with intellectual disabilities are less likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer but more likely to die from breast cancer. One of the reasons why they die earlier from breast cancer includes the poor uptake of cancer screening.
“A contributory factor to the low uptake is the design/nature of the mammography machine, which can make it difficult, and in some cases, impossible for women with intellectual disabilities to be screened due to their cognitive, sensory and/or physical needs.
“This technology has the potential to improve the uptake of breast cancer screening and diagnosis of breast cancer in women with intellectual disabilities, ultimately saving lives by using a kinder and less invasive device to detect breast tumours early.”
Professor Wei said: “Breast cancer can develop over time, and while some types grow quickly, others may progress slowly, making early detection critical for improving survival outcomes.
“This technology has the potential to save women’s lives by detecting tumours early, while being used as an added measure alongside all other normal checks and scans.
As MRI scans can be months apart, patients could be given better peace of mind by knowing that any growth between monitoring appointments would be picked up.
“We hope in the future that this technology could reduce the need for many other checks, such as MRI, ultrasound and mammograms, and in doing so create efficiencies for health services.”
Dr Dani Skirrow, Research Information Manager at Cancer Research UK, said: “Over the past 50 years, our work has helped to nearly double breast cancer survival in the UK. We’re committed to making sure everyone shares in this progress equally, regardless of who they are, where they’re from or what type of cancer they have.
“The ‘Smart Bra’ has the potential to make breast cancer screening more accessible so that more people can benefit from it. This would help us to detect more breast cancers at the earliest stage, when treatments are most likely to work.
“We’re supporting our scientists to develop innovative technologies like the ‘Smart Bra’ to make sure the benefits of research are shared by everyone.”
Enquiries: ali.howard@glasgow.ac.uk or elizabeth.mcmeekin@glasgow.ac.uk
First published: 14 November 2025