University commercialisation: It’s a weird situation, says researcher-founder

When Dr Sandra Grau-Bartual began a PhD at Auckland University of Technology in 2014, she had no intention of becoming an entrepreneur.Originally from Spain, she had completed a master's of chemical engineering in Brussels and came to New Zealand as a tourist, wanting to improve her English. She saw a PhD scholarship available at AUT and applied. On acceptance, a three-month trip became a 10-year journey from post-graduate researcher to company chief executive.For her PhD in biomedical engineering, Grau-Bartual applied knowledge of flu...