Home / Team

The people behind the sponge

We are materials scientists and engineers from ETH Zurich, working with clinicians and industry to turn a published material into a product.

Apoorv Singh and Börte Emiroglu pipetting samples at a lab bench
Apoorv Singh and Dr. Börte Emiroglu at work in the lab.

Team

Apoorv Singh

Co-founder and CEO

Joined the Macromolecular Engineering Laboratory at ETH Zurich in 2023 to work on granular hydrogels for chronic wound healing, the research Immunosponge grew out of. Co-founded the company in 2025 and leads it, together with its technical development.

Selin Baysal

R&D Scientist

Did her master’s thesis with us in the Macromolecular Engineering Laboratory at ETH Zurich, on granular biomaterials as bioactive sponges for chronic wound healing, then came back to lead our research and development.

Co-founders

The platform was developed in the Macromolecular Engineering Laboratory at ETH Zurich.

Dr. Börte Emiroglu

Co-founder and Technical Advisor

Developed the granular hydrogel platform during her PhD and postdoc in the Macromolecular Engineering Laboratory at ETH Zurich, and is first author of the 2024 study it is built on. Led the project as an ETH Pioneer Fellow from 2025 to 2026, taking it from the lab towards a product.

Prof. Mark Tibbitt

Scientific co-founder

Associate Professor at ETH Zurich and head of the Macromolecular Engineering Laboratory, where the Immunosponge platform was developed. His group engineers polymer materials for medicine.

Dr. Céline Labouesse

Scientific co-founder

Senior Researcher in the Macromolecular Engineering Laboratory at ETH Zurich, working in mechanobiology and bioengineering: designing tailored environments for cells and engineered tissue. Co-author of the 2024 study the platform is built on.

Advisors and clinical experts

Experts in Zurich who help us build the company and shape the product around how chronic wounds are treated in practice.

Dr. Kaspar Binz

Business coach

ETH Pioneer Fellowship

Prof. Dr. med. Jürg Hafner

Clinical expert

University Hospital Zurich (USZ)

Prof. Sabine Werner

Scientific expert

ETH Zurich

Dr. med. Peter Sabisch

Clinical expert

University Hospital Zurich (USZ)

PD Dr. Madlaina Schöni

Clinical expert

Balgrist University Hospital

Supported by

  • ETH Zurich
  • ETH Pioneer Fellowship
  • SNSF BRIDGE Proof of Concept
  • Novartis Foundation
  • Olga Mayenfisch Stiftung
  • Polypitch
  • Venture Kick
  • SPARK Zurich

We have raised more than CHF 450,000 in competitive grants and prizes so far.

Work with us

We are a small team in Zurich. If you work on biomaterials, wound care or medical device development and want to help bring this to patients, write to us.