Thursday, January 5, 2023

Tiny patch would give diabetics painless glucose monitoring

University of Waterloo researchers are developing a new patch that would offer diabetics an affordable, accurate, pain-free, round-the-clock alternative to traditional tests that require pricking a finger for a blood sample every few hours.

And to make it even more user-friendly, potentially life-saving readings from the patch would be transmitted to people’s smartphones.
 
After three years of work, the research team is perfecting a wearable patch that uses hundreds of tiny microneedles to sense glucose levels, crucial information for diabetics who need to know exactly how much medication they require at any one time.

“This will improve people’s lifestyle by leading to more personalized medicine-taking,” said Peyman GhavamiNejad, an engineering PhD student at Waterloo who led the work. “We want to make it easier for people to monitor themselves, without any pain, with better control of the levels of their glucose and so they know how much insulin to take.”

Although a variety of monitoring patches have been commercially available for several years, GhavamiNejad said this is the first of its kind.

“It’s really novel work that we continue to improve,” he said of the electro-chemical sensor. “Before this no one’s done it with hydrogel conductive material that could be used for glucose sensing as a microneedle platform.”

There are distinct advantages to the new patch, according to Dr. Mahla Poudineh, an electrical and computer engineering professor who leads the overall project. For example, patients can apply the patch themselves, unlike some other devices that must be inserted under the skin by a nurse.

The patch would be extremely small — only a centimetre square — so it could be worn very discreetly on a person’s arm. Because it uses low-cost materials, it would be cheaper than some of the patches now available, which can cost up to $4,800 a year, and it could be purchased by patients over the counter. It would also give more accurate and continual measurements for 14 days, compared to current devices that provide monitoring for seven to 10 days.

In conjunction with the work being done by GhavamiNejad, Poudineh and the rest of their team, Dr. Peter Levine, an electrical and computer engineering professor, is building a miniature electronic platform to wirelessly send readings from the microneedles to users’ smartphones.

A paper on the research, A Conductive Hydrogel Microneedle-Based Assay Integrating PEDOT:PSS and Ag-Pt Nanoparticles for Real-Time, Enzyme-Less, and Electrochemical Sensing of Glucose, appears in the journal Advanced Healthcare Materials. 

The project is funded by a Discovery Grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

Are you ready to turn your bright idea into an early-stage venture?

By Naomi Grosman.

Tapping into Velocity’s resources on campus opens the door to a community of like-minded student innovators, coaches and subject-matter experts. It is where students interested in developing their entrepreneurial mindset can transform ideas beyond the ideation stage.

Campus programs are open to students at all stages of their entrepreneurship journey and spark and nurture the entrepreneurial mindset. Programs range from Zero Experience, for students starting their idea exploration, to Cornerstone (applications are open now) where students get the chance to test ideas, validate business plans and share knowledge and resources with other founders. 

Last year Velocity welcomed innovators at all stages back to the Velocity Science lab (ESC 319), for students solving science-based problems, and opened Velocity Digital (SCH 228) and Problem Lab HQ (MC 2037) giving students the physical space and support to explore problems and work on solutions.

Apply to work in our creator spaces

“Velocity is great because you get those connections, especially working in the healthcare space you need to get noticed in the healthcare setting and Velocity has other founders and coaches that have worked in that space, so it helps build that network,” said Dhvani Patel, Co-Founder of RelayMD, fall term 2022 Velocity $5K pitch competition finalist.

Throughout the winter term, Velocity will host a range of events including hackathons, roundtables, expert speaker events and, of course, our flagship event, the Velocity $5K pitch competition, where student teams will have the chance to showcase their passion for innovation for a chance to win four $5,000 prizes. 

Start building your network at our first event of the term on January 13^th at South Campus Hall. The Innovation Ecosystem Mixer is a chance to forge and foster connections, and learn about Velocity programs, spaces and other University of Waterloo entrepreneurship opportunities.

Sign-Up for the Innovation Ecosystem Mixer

Whether you have a fully-realized idea and are already working on the solution or it’s early-stage and you are ready to explore, Velocity is a community that welcomes and supports you. 

“I was debating whether or not to go to the coffee chat,” said Mulei Mao, one of four team members of H2GRO, the winning team of Velocity’s Climate Change Hackathon last term. “If I hadn’t gone…none of the effort and luck that helped us win would have happened — you have to push yourself out of your comfort zone.”

Let us help you.

Not sure where to begin and need some guidance on how to join Velocity and use our resources?
Enter into our Innovation Portal. A Velocity representative will guide you in the right direction.

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Building trust for experts

By Dr. Ashley Rose Mehlenbacher. This article originally appeared in the Global Futures report.

Something is trending on social media, and you may not want to look. It doesn’t take long for online discussion about important issues to devolve into misinformation, bad-faith critiques and attacks on leaders, experts and expert consensus.  

Sadly, this bad-faith content often spreads faster than good-faith content — often with devastating consequences.  

We can’t be experts in everything, so we need to rely on others to help us make informed decisions. It is vital for society to harness and share knowledge so that communities — and everyone in them — can thrive. How do we know who to trust when credible information is regularly undermined by disinformation, malinformation and misinformation? 

A common theme I have encountered in my work in science communications and expertise is the importance of trust and communication when we talk about big issues that impact us. 

It is important to understand why people’s perception of experts is changing. There are many legitimate reasons for people to distrust experts and institutions, including that they have been harmed by them. Deliberations, decisions and actions happen in already-crafted systems, so understanding how inequities have been enacted by experts and institutions is crucial.

We also see illegitimate reasons like sexism, racism, antisemitism, transphobia and other prejudices used to attack an expert's credibility. Certain groups disproportionately face online attacks for participating in the public sphere, and we need to find better ways to support them. One way to do this is to identify how different bad-faith attacks operate and build anticipatory processes, policies and reporting structures to handle those situations and support those affected. 

In another vein, there are attempts to discredit legitimate experts using bad-faith critiques. Research in climate change communications shows that such tactics are used to fuel disinformation. Such tactics might use the argument that a researcher is biased because of career ambitions. There are also “purity tests” that might suggest a climate scientist who uses commercial flights is a hypocrite. 

Building trust happens through how we communicate

We need to share knowledge and its limitations in a transparent manner and demonstrate an understanding of the situations and audiences involved. We saw good examples during the pandemic when public health officials explained the evolving situation, the limitations of what was currently known and the reasons why they made certain decisions. 

We can also recognize and include the many varieties of expertise in our world, not just technical and scientific but also local, traditional and Indigenous knowledges. Including different types of expertise is necessary to address complex issues such as climate change. 

Every day it seems the world presents us with new challenges. Now more than ever, exploring communication strategies that acknowledge and understand the complexities of expertise in its various forms is a goal worth pursuing so we can make positive changes in our world. 

Dr. Ashley Rose Mehlenbacher is the Canada Research Chair in Science, Health and Technology Communication and leading expert on how communication practices shape how people engage with scientific and technical subject matters.

Thursday's notes

The Faculty of Health Dean's Advisory Committee on Health and Well-being is hosting a talk with Jack.org on mental health and well-being for students on Wednesday, January 25.

Speaking will be:

• Anna Polack, who is a first year undergraduate student at the University of Waterloo majoring in Biomedical Engineering. This is her first year as a Jack Talks speaker after helping create her high school's first Jack Chapter. Anna's passion for mental health advocacy began in high school when she noticed a lack of education about mental health in classrooms especially mental health education that included the 2SLGBTQ+ community. You can always find her dancing to music on her way to class, and in her spare time, rock climbing and baking banana bread; and
• Quinn Richardson, who is in his fourth year with Wilfrid Laurier University, studying as an undergraduate Sociology & Policing student with a minor in Leadership. When not volunteering for Jack.org, he can be seen volunteering with his local Ontario Provincial Police as an Auxiliary Constable or working on his fitness in local gyms. To destress after a long day, he does it best strumming an acoustic guitar or whipping up a hot recipe he discovered online.

Jack.org is a charity that trains and empowers youth who are revolutionizing mental health. They are working towards a Canada where all young people understand how to take care of their own mental health and look out for each other. A Canada without shame, and where all those that need support, get the help they deserve. With a national network of thousands of young leaders, they’re only just getting started. 

The event takes place on Wednesday, January 25 in the Faculty of Health Expansion building room 1689.

The Student Health Pharmacy in the basement of the Student Life Centre is now offering Covid booster shots and flu shots by appointment (although walk-ins are also welcome.) Call 519-740-4500 or dial extension 33784 to book an appointment to get your shot.