Dr Jordon Lima. Photo/ Matai Medical Institute
A bowel cancer screening project run through Gisborne-based Matai Medical Research Institute is a potential “lifesaver”, the East Coast-connected woman who will be driving it says.
Dr Jordon Lima, who originates from Whāngārā and is of Ngāti Porou, Te Aitanga a Hauiti and Ngāpuhi descent, received a 2025 Otago Health Sciences Māori Postdoctoral Fellowship to be done at a new molecular biology laboratory at Mātai.
Lima will use the lab to run “a proof-of-concept study” testing whether a simple blood test can provide timely bowel cancer detection for people in Tairāwhiti who are waiting for a colonoscopy.
Tairāwhiti patients who are on the non-urgent colonoscopy waiting list will be invited to provide a blood sample to be tested for ctDNA (DNA shed from a tumour into the blood).
Those results will be compared with colonoscopy data to assess how accurately the blood test can detect tumours.
Currently, those aged between 58 and 74 are offered a self-testing kit from the National Bowel Screening Programme (NBSP) every two years. If they test positive, they are admitted to receive a colonoscopy.
The NBSP’s 2024 research found about seven in 100 people who have a colonoscopy as part of the programme will be found to have cancer and that at least a third of the cancers detected are “early stage”.
Lima identified this as a problem.
“Only 7% of the people who are testing positive actually require that colonoscopy and the other 93% of those people just had an unnecessary, very invasive medical procedure performed.”
Lima’s research proposes everyone on the national NBSP list whose self-testing kit returns positive take a ctDNA test.
“Eventually, it would be that if your faecal test was positive, you would get a ctDNA test. If it was negative for tumours, then you wouldn’t have to go through the colonoscopies.
“If the DNA-based test proves feasible, as early stage research suggests it can, this will mean larger trials to test if it can be commercially developed. This could lead to simple, affordable tests for early cancer detection that can be publicly funded and delivered in-community.
“Potentially, it’s a lifesaver.”
Lima believed that not only would this reduce the need for unnecessary colonoscopies, but relieve pressure on the healthcare system.
“We have very limited secondary services as it is, so we don’t want to be putting that extra burden on our already very small hospital.”
Lima said Tairāwhiti had some of the longest waiting times for diagnosis from time of detection, either through the NBSP or GPs.
“This is due to the length of the waiting lists for colonoscopies, which, as I mentioned, 93% of people who test positive from the NBSP are getting unnecessarily.”
Lima said with a high rural population in Tairāwhiti, many had to make long trips to Gisborne Hospital from places such as Te Araroa and Wharekahika/Hicks Bay on the East Coast.
“If 93% of the time that colonoscopy is unnecessary, then that’s really unfair for them to have to do that travel.”
Lima did her doctoral research through Otago University on the design of Tairāwhiti-specific clinical protocols for ctDNA. She used a kaupapa Māori biomedical research approach that required close partnership with Tairāwhiti communities.
“I have been building relationships across health, academic, community, local council and education sectors with people who are as committed as I am to ensuring research is locally governed and that results are translated back to the community.
“Together we are also working to grow science outreach up the coast. We can use co-design and community-led initiatives to strengthen cancer care equity for all people in Aotearoa.
“I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel here for Te Tairāwhiti. I am simply offering support, time and energy to bring technologies to our people that can improve our cancer outcomes.”