IPRO TO RECREATE FIRST ARTIFICIAL KIDNEY MACHINE, INVENTORā€™S ASSISTANT TO SPEAK AT IIT

Date

µē³µĪŽĀė, IL ā€” February 21, 2006 ā€”

Jacob van Noordwijk, who assisted Willem Kolff in the development of the first artificial kidney machine, and Herman Broers, director of Netherlandsā€™ Kolff Museum, where the machine is exhibited, will present a lecture, ā€œThe Early History of Dialysis,ā€ at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), on February 24. The discussion will be held from 12:50ā€“2:05 p.m. at the Engineering 1 Auditorium, 10 W. 32nd St.

The kidney machine was built in 1943 Nazi-occupied Netherlands, by Kolff and Noordwijk. In a country short of supplies, they developed a simple device that could be quickly assembled and sterilized. Their device was the first successful extra-corporeal medical instrument. It provided a successful technological reference point for subsequent development of dialysis and it established the field of artificial organs.

Students participating in IITā€™s Interprofessional Projects Program will build a working model of the rotating drum to present to the Museum of Science and Industry for exhibition.

The event is co-sponsored by IITā€™s Biomedical Engineering and Humanities Department.

Founded in 1890, IIT is a Ph.D.-granting technological university awarding degrees in the sciences, mathematics and engineering, as well as architecture, psychology, design, business and law. IITā€™s interprofessional, technology-focused curriculum prepares the universityā€™s 6,200 students for leadership roles in an increasingly complex and culturally diverse global workplace.