We're thrilled to welcome Tugrul Irmak as our guest speaker this month — bringing a unique blend of engineering expertise, lived experience, and visionary ambition in kidney care.
🧠⚙️ Tugrul studied Mechanical Engineering at the University of Bristol (2013–2017), after which he pursued a PhD in the Intelligent Vehicles group at TU Delft (2017–2022), focusing on motion sickness and sensory integration in the brain. During his postdoc at TU Delft, his kidneys failed (September 2022). He was bound to the dialysis machine for 10 months.
🌱 Just three weeks after receiving a transplant (June 2023), he joined Dr. Karin Gerritsen's group at UMC Utrecht, driven by a powerful goal: to create an implantable bio-artificial kidney and help build a future free from dialysis.
🎙️ His talk will be a visual story — from snowcapped, icy Alpine spires to the quiet degeneration of dialysis, and the ongoing effort to engineer an artificial kidney for a better future.
💬 He will share his personal dialysis journey, which began in the thin air of the high Alps, and reflect on the emotional and physical toll of this silent degeneration.
🔬 The talk will also explore the road toward the artificial kidney, focusing on the hard scientific problems that must still be addressed to make the implantable bio-artificial kidney a reality.
🌟 Join us for an unforgettable session that brings science, humanity, and sustainability together — and be ready to feel inspired.
✨ Because the future of kidney care is not just about survival, it’s about reimagining freedom.
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