WATERLOO — T-Ray Science Inc., a high-tech firm launched out of research at the University of Waterloo, is now a publicly traded company.

The company, which is developing medical imaging products using terahertz radiation, raised $1.5 million in an initial public offering of shares on the TSX Venture Exchange.

T-Ray is the first local company to go public since shares of Sandvine Corp. starting trading on the London and Toronto stock exchanges in 2006.

Led by a trio of young scientists from Iran, the company is working on an imaging device that will aid in the detection of skin cancer. It is also developing a pill analyzer and has manufactured and sold terahertz chips to universities and laboratories.

Net proceeds from the public offering will help in the development of these products, the company said in a news release.

Terahertz radiation is a relatively untapped form of radiation that can penetrate surface areas of the skin and other thin membranes, but does not possess the harmful properties of X-rays.

Shares in T-Ray began trading today on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol THZ. The shares ended the day unchanged at 25 cents on a volume of 115,000 shares.

T-Ray was incorporated in 2006 to commercialize a branch of research into the electromagnetic spectrum that has been going on at UW for the past 10 years. Spearheading that research are three university graduates from Iran led by Daryoosh Saeedkia, the company’s chief technology officer.

Thomas Braun, a mergers and acquisitions specialist from Vancouver, was brought in to manage the company and serves as president and chief executive officer.