IBTec work showcased on radio NZ
The ground-breaking work of AUT’s Institute of Biomedical Technologies (IBTec) has recently been in the headlines.
Several of the products it is developing to improve healthcare have featured on Radio New Zealand’s science podcast Our Changing World and on the Radio NZ website.
The director of IBTec Professor Andrew Lowe was interviewed, along with AUT senior lecturer in mechanical engineering Dr Tet Chuan Lee, and research officer and biomedical engineering PhD candidate Matin Khalili.
The show highlighted a prototype blood pressure device which has the potential to be the first new BP monitoring system since the 1960s, and a long-term, more comfortable way of measuring heart arrhythmias via electrocardiograms (ECGs).
IBTec’s goal is to help people manage medical conditions at home, detect early warning signs and reduce pressure on health services.
"Cardiovascular disease is worldwide the biggest killer," Professor Lowe, who recently won the Te Huihuinga o Matariki | Research Excellence Award at the2026 Ngā Whakamānawa o Matariki | AUT Matariki Awards.
"Just under a third of the population will have a cardiovascular event and as we age as a population, it's getting worse and worse.
"If you can support somebody with good management of heart failure in the home, you can delay hospitalisation and reduce the risk of death." Lowe
Both the arrhythmia monitoring and blood pressure projects have government support to begin clinical trials.
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