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GU I D E to Y E L L OW S P R I NG S | 2O22 – 2O23 43 pany, Radiometer. Drawing from the work of the Radiometer researchers and developers in Copenha- gen and the team in Yellow Springs, Brunsman, Hunting - ton and Newman oversaw the two-year development of a new device that measured glucose like no other product available for clinical use at the time. This was the Model 23. FROM 23 TO 23A The first glucose instru - ment, Model 23, followed Clark’s original concept. Here’s how it worked: there’d be two electrodes — one measured glucose and interferences, while the other measured just the interferences. A user inputs a blood sample that interacts with both Clark electrodes — one would be coated with a glucose oxidase enzyme, which would catalyze glucose to hydrogen peroxide. The other electrode would be bare. One electrode signal is subtracted from the other. The difference should be the glucose level. But there was a problem. “We discovered after a while that the instrument gave a different response for every interference,” Brunsman said. “So, it didn’t really work as we wanted it to.” The problem, Brunsman said, came from interferences such as ibuprofen or ascorbic acid. These “interferences,” as Brunsman described them, would lead to different glu - cose readings. In short, Model 23 wasn’t as accurate as Brunsman, Newman and Huntington had hoped. “We sold some [Model 23s], but ended up taking them back,” Brunsman said. “We recalled them off the market immediately when that defect was detected.” “It was back to the drawing board,” he said. The team regrouped and re-evaluated their designs. Despite the project’s short - comings, Trolander and other YSI leaders maintained their faith in the team’s ability to solve the problem. “Sometime in 1972, we rallied the troops and went out to Copenhagen to discuss where we were,” Brunsman said. “The engineers over there were also running into our problem.” While abroad, Brunsman, Newman and Huntington happened across the work being done by one particular Radiometer researcher. “This guy had taken a sali - nization membrane and put it over an electrode to measure something other than glucose,” Brunsman said. “Saliniza - tion membranes are used in machines that can make salt water potable. It’s a very selec - tive membrane that doesn’t allow everything through. It gets rid of interferences.” Brunsman and his team were captivated by this break - through — Newman, in par - ticular. Whereas YSI’s glucose measurement devices kept butting up against unexpected interferences, their Danish counterparts inadvertently cracked the code. “When we returned home, we ordered some saliniza - tion membranes right away,” Brunsman said. “And David [Newman] developed a new membrane based off the properties that Radiometer had developed. He made them much, much thinner. His membranes captured all of the interferences we had been experiencing.” Suddenly it worked. Their device worked. “It was beautiful,” Brunsman said. “Just beautiful.” With the new membranes hooked up to Clark’s elec - trodes, every interference with Model 23’s glucose read - ings was negated. Suddenly, Brunsman and the rest of his team at YSI were getting con - sistently accurate measure- ments on their blood samples. This new development could quantify blood sugar levels with 98% accuracy — higher than most devices on the market today, Brunsman said. The name of this new device? Model 23A: the then-proclaimed pinnacle of glucose measurement devices. According to Brunsman, it took him, Newman, Hun - tington and the rest of the team at YSI only two years to reconfigure the error-prone Model 23 into the accurate 23A. It was available on the commercial market for clinical use by 1974. “We worked so cohesively as a team,” Brunsman said with a grin. “I had worked on ventures before, and I’ve worked on ventures since. And those can take 5 to 10 years. To turn around some - thing like the 23 to the 23A in just two years — even with all of us making all the electron - ics, hardware, chemistry, the standards — just everything. It was just incredible.” “We just did things quickly back then. That was just the culture at YSI,” he added. A LASTING LEGACY Beyond its immediate com- mercial success, Model 23A represented a major milestone in the field of biosensors — and in particular, the devel - opment of such machines. According to Brunsman, the mid-’70s was a time when developers, engineers, scien - tists and programmers — in both the private and public spheres — were making mas - sive technological advances on a regular basis. “It was a remarkably inven - tive time,” Brunsman said. What set YSI apart from many of its contemporaries and competitors wasn’t a thirst for capital gain, but instead a desire to contribute to the greater good. “I remember Hardy [Trolan - Available by appointment 707-812-2882 Massage: $40/30 mins, $80/60 mins, $120/90 mins Reiki: $40/30 mins, $75/60 mins LaStone Therapy: $105/75 mins, $125/90 mins Hot StoneReflex: $75/60mins Foot Reflexology: $55/45mins LOCATED AT The Mindfully Well Center 1525 XENIA AVE., YELLOW SPRINGS R e i k i M a s s a g e L a s t o n e t h e R a p y F o o t & h o t s t o n e R e F L e x o L o g y Kim Plinovich LMT Yellow Springs United Methodist Church In service when COVID-safe. 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