3 minute read
LEAPS
In the first of a series, we meet Dr Grace Walker and Dr Jake Campbell, two of the team from Canterbury university, set on creating (amongst other things) new needlefree sensing and insulin delivery technology.
The Science for Technological Innovation National Science Challenge (SfTI) is one of the 11 National Science Challenges set up by the Government to tackle issues New Zealanders care most about. Its job is to grow the New Zealand economy by investing in hundreds of our country’s best high-tech researchers. These researchers are doing cuttingedge work in the fields of sensors, robotics, automation, data science, materials manufacturing, and design.
SfTI supports two types of projects. Ones that are led by individual researchers who have an idea to explore, and ones that are driven by teams they assemble, including scientists, industry, and Māori who collectively take on a big problem.
This is where Dr Grace Walker (Ngāti Kahungunu/Ngāruahine) and Dr Jake Campbell (Te Rawara) come in. The pair met when completing their PhDs at Canterbury University. Grace was studying psychology, and Jake was doing biomechanical engineering.
The pair met through Te Kupenga o Mai (Māori and Indigenous Scholar Network), commonly referred to as MAI. This is a programme created for the enhancement of Māori and indigenous post-graduate students throughout Aotearoa New Zealand. Being the only ones in MAI from their departments, Grace and Jake quickly connected, getting together for coffees to discuss their PhDs.
Grace had worked as a research consultant, and Jake was keen to work within community. They both came together in the dual understanding of Māori engagement and design.
NON-INVASIVE CGM
Before Grace joined the project, Jake and his team were looking at ways to reduce invasive measurements in hospitals, particularly in how to measure oxygen in the venous system. Jake knew of others who had been trying to find a way to look at glucose in the blood with similar technology to a pulse oximeter, and he continued down that path of research. This resulted in designing a sensor which uses multiple wavelengths of light to isolate the spectral fingerprints of glucose in blood.
Christchurch endocrinologist Dr Martin de Bock then approached the team with the challenge to design an insulin pump that would be cheaper than what is currently available.
The team fulfilled Dr deBock’s brief and came up with a design that could be made for half the price.
They started working in lab trials, first with water, and then with blood. In 2021, the team was fortunate to be able to do trials in the neonatal ICU at Middlemore to look at neonates’ glucose levels.
This is when Grace came on board. Her experience was needed to help Jake and his team talk to community.
Committing to proper kaupapa, she ventured in first, meeting communities and instigating conversations about what they needed. Only after that, the engineering and social science team joined them to have a kōrero about people’s experiences of living with diabetes.
‘That’s why I think we’re successful. We’ve got backing from the community, people who have diabetes, and people who know people who are suffering with diabetes. Our tech works. By listening to people, we are designing tech for their day-to-day use,’ says Dr Grace Walker.
In upcoming issues of Diabetes Wellness, we hope to bring you more information about the work the Leaps team is doing.
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