Emiroglu’s academic career has taken her from Turkey to Zurich, after a master’s degree, and straight into the interdisciplinary world of biomedical engineering at ETH Zurich. “Back then, I didn’t even know what a hydrogel was,” she recalls, thinking back to the early days of her doctoral research at the Macromolecular Engineering Laboratory under the supervision of Professor Mark Tibbitt.

But the unknown was precisely what fascinated her, and it was this that became the launchpad for a new technology. Emiroglu’s goal was to develop an intelligent wound dressing that could actively influence the healing process in chronic wounds. Her solution is based on granular hydrogels that capture pro-inflammatory signals from the tissue while simultaneously supporting regenerative processes.

Chronic wounds—such as those associated with diabetes or circulatory disorders—are a widespread medical problem. Many sufferers have open skin lesions that barely heal for months or even years. This is often due to an exaggerated immune response: instead of progressing to regeneration, the body remains trapped in a continuous loop of overactive inflammatory activity.