Prof. Uğur Özbek
Uğur Özbek graduated from Istanbul University, Cerrahpaşa Faculty of Medicine in 1986. He received a Ph.D. degree in Cancer Genetics at Oncology Institute, Istanbul University in 1995. He also received Medical Genetics Specialization at the same University in 2006.
He worked at Gaslini Institue, Genoa in 1994 for molecular defects in Neuroblastoma and later at St. Gerardo Hospital, Milan in 1996 for molecular diagnostics of pediatric leukemias. During the years 1998-2000, he worked at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Genetics Department in Memphis as a post-doctoral research fellow on molecular genetics of leukemogenesis. In 1997 he became an Associate Professor in Basic Oncology and in 2003 he became a full Professor in Genetics. He has been awarded the Querido Chair professorship at Erasmus University Medical Faculty, given on behalf of its founder A. Querido. Entitled by this award, he has given lectures on “Migration, health and genetics” at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, for the periods of 2006-2007.
He worked as a faculty member at Istanbul University Institute of Experimental Medicine, Genetics Department between 1994-2016. During this period, he pursued duties that consist of being a member in the Forensic Medicine Council, as a consultant in the Forensic Biology Department; as a faculty member and director of Istanbul University Health Sciences Institute Genetics Graduate Program and as the director of the Institute of Experimental Medicine, Istanbul University. He started to work at Istanbul Acıbadem University, School of Medicine in 2016. Currently, he is serving as director of the Health Sciences Institute and chair of the Medical Genetics Department. In 2017 he has been established, the first in kind, the Center for Rare and Undiagnosed Diseases at Acibadem University. He has been working as a scientific advisory committee member at the Health Institutes of Turkey (TUSEB) since 2016. He is also the national coordinator for Orphanet in Turkey since 2006. As of 2022, H-index: 37 (230 publications in WoS, 4730 citations).
His research interests include delineation of the genetics and molecular biological mechanisms underlying childhood and adult hereditary cancers and rare/undiagnosed diseases.
Yasemin Alanay, M.D., Ph.D.
Next-generation sequencing has revolutionized the diagnostic process in clinical genetics, ending the “diagnostic Odyses” for many families. Genomic treatments are on the horizon. Alanay Research Group, aims to translate research questions from the clinic/bed-side to the laboratory in research areas of our interest. Our team: Yasemin Alanay, M.D., Ph.D. (Pediatric Geneticist) Özlem Akgün Doğan, M.D., Ph.D. (Pediatric Geneticist)
Recent Publications:
Once-daily, subcutaneous vosoritide therapy in children with achondroplasia: a randomised, double-blind, phase 3, placebo-controlled, multicentre trial. Savarirayan R, Tofts L, Irving M, Wilcox W, Bacino CA, Hoover-Fong J, Ullot Font R, Harmatz P, Rutsch F, Bober MB, Polgreen LE, Ginebreda I, Mohnike K, Charrow J, Hoernschemeyer D, Ozono K, Alanay Y, Arundel P, Kagami S, Yasui N, White KK, Saal HM, Leiva-Gea A, Luna-González F, Mochizuki H, Basel D, Porco DM, Jayaram K, Fisheleva E, Huntsman-Labed A, Day J.Lancet. 2020 Sep 5;396(10252):684-692. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)31541-5.PMID: 32891212 Clinical Trial.
Successful application of genome sequencing in a diagnostic setting: 1007 index cases from a clinically heterogeneous cohort.
Bertoli-Avella AM, Beetz C, Ameziane N, Rocha ME, Guatibonza P, Pereira C, Calvo M, Herrera-Ordonez N, Segura-Castel M, Diego-Alvarez D, Zawada M, Kandaswamy KK, Werber M, Paknia O, Zielske S, Ugrinovski D, Warnack G, Kampe K, Iurașcu MI, Cozma C, Vogel F, Alhashem A, Hertecant J, Al-Shamsi AM, Alswaid AF, Eyaid W, Al Mutairi F, Alfares A, Albalwi MA, Alfadhel M, Al-Sannaa NA, Reardon W, Alanay Y, Rolfs A, Bauer P.Eur J Hum Genet. 2021 Jan;29(1):141-153. doi: 10.1038/s41431-020-00713-9. Epub 2020 Aug 28.PMID: 32860008 Free PMC article.
Prof. Dr. Eda Tahir Turanli
Eda Tahir Turanlı is a Professor at Acıbadem University, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics (MBG), Istanbul, Turkey. She received her BSc from Nottingham University, Queen's Medical Hospital, Department of Genetics (1994), and her MSc from London University, Imperial College of Science and Technology, St Mary's Medical School (1995). She received her doctorate degree from Marmara University, Institute of Health Sciences, Department of Medical Biology and Genetics in 2000. Tahir Turanlı's research interests include genetic and epigenetic mechanisms of rare and complex inherited diseases, especially autoinflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases.
Active Research Projects: Novel susceptibility genes identification in familial Multiple Sclerosis and in autoinflammatory disease; Developing and investigating the functionality of the genetic variants in cell culture models
Related Publications :
Mohammad Ahangari , Elif Everest , Tan-Hoang Nguyen , Brian C Verrelli , Bradley T Webb , Silviu-Alin Bacanu , Eda Tahir Turanli , Brien P Riley. Genome-wide analysis of schizophrenia and multiple sclerosis identifies shared genomic loci with mixed direction of effects. Brain Behav Immun. 2022 Jun 14;104:183-190. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2022.06.007 Timucin Avsar, İlknur Melis Durası, Uğur Uygunoğlu, Melih Tütüncü, Nuri Onat Demirci, Sabahattin Saip, O. Uğur Sezerman, Aksel Siva and Eda Tahir Turanlı. CSF Proteomics Identifies Specific and Shared Pathways for Multiple Sclerosis Clinical Subtypes. PLOS ONE DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0122045, pages 1-18, Ommar Omarjee, Anne-Laure Mathieu, Gaelle Quiniou, Marion Moreews, Michelle Ainouze, Cecile Frachette, Isabelle Melki, Cecile Dumaine, Mathieu Gerfaud Valentin, Agnes Duquesne, Tilmann Kallinich, Eda Tahir Turanli, Christophe Malcus, Sébastien Viel, Rémi Pescarmona, Sophie Georgin-lavialle, Yvan Jamilloux, Jean Paul Larbre, Guillaume Sarrabay, Flora Magnotti, Gillian Rice, Francoise Bleicher, Jonathan Reboulet, Samir Merabet, Thomas Henry, Yanick Crow, Mathias Faure, Thierry Walzer, and Alexandre Belot. LACC1 deficiency links juvenile arthritis with autophagy and metabolism in macrophages. Journal of Experimental Medicine, 2021, (218):3, e20201006 Ilker Karacan, Serdal Ugurlu, Sezgin Sahin, Elif Everest, Ozgur Kasapcopur, Aslihan Tolun, Huri Ozdogan, Eda Tahir Turanli. LACC1 Gene Defects in Familial Form of Juvenile Arthritis. Journal of Rheumatology. J Rheumatol 2018;45;726-728.
Karacan İ, Uğurlu S, Tolun A, Eda Tahir Turanli, Ozdogan H. Other autoinflammatory disease genes in an FMF-prevalent population: a homozygous MVK mutation and a novel heterozygous TNFRSF1A mutation in two different Turkish families with clinical FMF. Clin Exp Rheumatol. 2017 35 Suppl 108(6):75-81 Celikyapi Erdem, Gokce; Erdemir, Sule; Abaci, Irem; Kirectepe Aydin, Asli K; Everest, E; Eda Tahir Turanli. Alternatively spliced MEFV transcript lacking exon 2 and its protein isoform pyrin-2d implies an epigenetic regulation of the gene in inflammatory cell culture models. Genetics and Molecular Biology. 2017 Jul-Sep;40(3):688-697
Assoc. Prof. Cemaliye Akyerli Boylu
Cemaliye Akyerli Boylu received her undergraduate degree from Hacettepe University, Faculty of Science, Department of Biology in 1996. Then, she completed her master's degree in 1998 and her doctorate in 2004 at İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University, Faculty of Science, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics. During her PhD studies, she worked as a researcher at the Cleveland Clinic, Lerner Research Institute, Department of Cancer Biology with a NATO A2 scholarship. She has been working at Acıbadem University, School of Medicine, Department of Medical Biology since 2009. Her main research areas can be summarized as cancer genetics. Her recent studies are investigating the effects of nuclear genome and mtDNA variations as molecular markers on disease biology in Gliomas and Breast Cancer.
Recent Publications
Dr. Kaya Bilguvar
Dr. Kaya Bilguvar has been working in the field of human genetics for over 20 years. In the summer of 2021, he returned to Turkey and started working at Acibadem Mehmet Ali Aydinlar University School of Medicine, Department of Medical Genetics, along with Health Sciences Institute, Departments of Genome Studies and Translational Medicine, and ACURARE. In addition, he holds an adjunct professor position at Yale University School of Medicine, Departments of Neurosurgery and Genetics where he has been conducting research studies since 2005. His major research interests include the identification of genetic bases of human diseases affecting the structure and function of the nervous system, and elucidation of underlying disrupted biological processes using patient-derived 2D and 3D induced neuronal systems. His latest efforts are concentrated on the studies of cortical malformations, schizophrenia, early-onset neurodegenerative syndromes and migraine. From 2013 to 2021, he also served, first as associate director then as the director of the Yale Center for Genome Analysis where he contributed to many large-scale human genetics efforts along with the development of diagnostic applications utilizing next-generation omics technologies.
Assist Prof. Onur Emre Onat
Dr. Onur Emre Onat is an Assistant Professor at Acıbadem University, Institute of Health Sciences, Departments of Translational Medicine and Genome Studies.
Dr. Onat graduated from Boğaziçi University, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics in 2004. Between 2004 and 2012, he researched the causes of rare diseases during his master’s and doctoral studies at Bilkent University, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics. The main research area in this process was on the discovery of disease-causing genes of a cerebellar hypoplasia (CAMRQ) that is notable for walking on all fours in humans. After his doctorate education, he focused on unraveling the molecular mechanism of the "hunger/satiety" feeling regulated by neurons in the hypothalamus region of the brain in a collaborative project between Rockefeller and Bilkent Universities co-directed by Drs. Jeffrey Friedman, the discoverer of the hormone leptin and the winner of the Lasker award and Tayfun Özçelik, TUBITAK science award winner. During this period, he focused on diseases with complex inheritance and took part in establishing a comprehensive DNA bank and genome database. In this context, he continued his studies on the discovery of genes for metabolic diseases such as familial obesity, extreme leanness, and polycystic ovarian syndrome, neurodegenerative diseases such as essential tremor and Parkinson's, and psychiatric and behavioral phenotypes associated with circadian rhythms such as delayed sleep phase and attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder.
The main focus of Onat Lab is to contribute to the genetic etiologies of human diseases and the enhancing precision medicine by developing new analysis methods and algorithms to investigate disease-causing mutations and genes by comparing next-generation sequencing genomic data of patients with control individuals or unaffected family members. For this, we apply and combine computational biology approaches such as bioinformatics, statistical genomics, biological databases, network modelings, machine learning, population genetics, with molecular cytogenetic approaches such as homozygosity mapping, linkage analysis, SNP genotyping, and with various molecular biology approaches.
Dr. Öğr. Üyesi Özlem Akgün Doğan
Dr. Özlem Akgün Doğan graduated from Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine in 2006. Between 2007 and 2012, she did a pediatrics residency at Ankara Sami Ulus Gynecology, Child Health and Diseases Training and Research Hospital. Between 2014-2018, she completed her fellowship at Hacettepe University, Department of Pediatric Genetics. During her 3-year period as a Pediatric Geneticist at Istanbul Umraniye Training and Research Hospital, she took part in the deep phenotyping of individuals affected by pediatric rare diseases, evaluating the underlying molecular pathologies through next-generation sequencing analysis and reporting the results. Beginning to work as a faculty member at Acıbadem University Faculty of Medicine in 2021, Dr. Akgun-Dogan carried out research on the project titled "Investigation of the functions of candidate genes determined by whole exome sequence analysis in a group of congenital malformations by using CRISPR / CAS9 gene regulation technology in a Xenopus frog model" within the scope of Fulbright Academic Research Scholarship between 2021-2022. Dr. Akgun-Dogan's areas of research interest are childhood rare diseases, multiple congenital anomalies, dysmorphology, and clinical genetics.
Related Publications :