Over twenty years of my research has been at the interface of chemical engineering and applied biotechnology, attaining a wide array of tools, particularly in the fields of metabolic kinetics, recombinant protein and glycoprotein production, mathematical modeling of biological systems, protein engineering, genetic engineering of both bacterial and yeast systems, phage display, and in the new era of glycoproteins expressed in yeast and bacteria.

We see microorganisms as our micro-factories, and apply engineering principles to develop and improve biotechnology products or techniques.

 

Research Group, 2021:

Post Doctoral Associates

Dr. Murat Akdoğan Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, 2021. M.Sc. Anadolu Uni., Chemical Engineering, 2013 B.Sc. Anadolu Uni., Chemical Engineering, 2010   Research interest: Bioprocess development for polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) production by genetically modified Bacillus megaterium cells   PhD Students	Dr. İlkay Koçer PhD co-supervisor: Prof. Dr. Matthew DeLisa, Cornell Uni., Chemical and Biomolecular Eng. Dept. Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, 2021 M.Sc. Hacettepe University, Chemical Engineering, 2015 B.Sc. Hacettepe University, Chemical Engineering, 2012 Research interest:  Production of antibody fragments in recombinant bacteria and their development towards medical diagnosis
Dilek Şahinbaş PhD. Bioengnieering, 2018- cont. M.Sc. Ege Uni. Bioengineering, 2018 B.Sc. Ege Uni. Bioengineering, 2015 Project: Synthetic antibodies against therapeutically relavant targets	Emine Altun Ph. D., Bioengineering, 2016-cont. M. Sc., Hacettepe Uni., Bioengineering, 2016 B. Sc, Hacettepe Uni., Biology, 2012 Project:  Aptamers against recombinant proteins related to biofilm formation Main-supervisor: Prof. Dr. Hülya Yavuz Ersan, Hacettepe Uni., Chemical Eng. Dept.

MSc Students

Selen Cilasun M.Sc. Hacettepe Uni., Bioengineering, 2019-con't B.Sc. Adana Alpaslan Türkeş Bilim ve Tek. Uni. ....... Bioengineering, 2019 Project: Engineering scFv's in E. coli	Selçuk Uğurlu M.Sc. Hacettepe Uni., Chemical Eng., 2020- B.Sc. Hacettepe Uni., Chemical Eng., 2015 Project: Biosensor development with scFv's derived from r-Escherichia coli

 

Research Group, 2020

Top left to right: Batuhan Doğan, Emine Altun, Sena Kılıç, Murat Akdoğan

Bottom left to right: Dilek Şahinbaş, Selen Cilasun, Dr. Eda Çelik Akdur, İlkay Koçer, Ece Anturan

 

Research Group, 2016

Left to right: İlkay Koçer, Melis Tunalı, Murat Akdoğan, Dr. Eda Çelik-Akdur,

Büşra Bilgiç, Ayfer Koyuncu, Ece Anturan. Not pictured: Beste Çağdaş Tunalı.

 

Research Group, 2013

Left to Right: Göksu Gür, İlkay Koçer, Dr. Eda Çelik-Akdur, Zehra Tatlı

 

ALUMNI

 

* Göksu Gür (BSc in Biology; MSc in Bioengineering, 2014) worked with our novel GlycoPhage nanoparticles (Çelik et al., 2010; Çelik et al., 2015), trying to display different glycans on phage particles and to spatially organize them in order to obtain a novel glycan microarray, that can be used in diagnostics and for studies on glycan binding proteins. The project was supported mainly by FP7 Marie Curie Career Integration Grant #322096 - GlycoPhageApp and Hacettepe University Research Funds. You can read more about the project here. She went to Middle East Technical University for her PhD studies. Her thesis paper is published: Çelik et al., 2015.

* Zehra (Tatlı) Yıldırım (BSc in Biology, MSc in Bioengineering, 2015.) worked on cellulases to be used in bioethanol production processes. She has expressed a superior enzyme from genetically engineered E. coli and her project was funded by TUBITAK. She went to Bilkent University for her PhD studies and then to UCLA. Her thesis paper is published: Yıldırım and Çelik, 2016.

*Büşra Bilgiç (BSc in Chemical Eng., MSc in Chemical Eng., 2018) worked on developing a novel high-throughput analysis method for protein glycosylation, which not only plays a major role in cell metabolism but also has important industrial implications. She also worked on IgG purification through its glycan groups. She now works at TUBITAK, SAGE.

* Khaliunsarnai Tsogtbaatar (BSc in Bioengineering, MSc in Bioengineering, 2019) worked on a collaborative project with Minho University via Erasmus scholarship on aptamer selection for osteosarcoma and Hacettepe Research Unit grants. Her thesis paper is published: Tsogtbaatar et al., 2021. She is going to S. Korea for PhD in 2021.

* Beste Çağdaş-Tunalı (BSc in Bioengineering, MSc in Pharmaceutical Toxicology, PhD in Bioengieering, 2019) worked on the development of novel delivery systems for gene silencing in cancer treatment, co-supervised with Prof. Dr. Mustafa Türk. Her paper is under review. She is currently an Asst. Prof. at Kırıkkale University.

* Ece Anturan (BSc in Chemical Eng., MSc in Chemical Eng., 2020) worked on metabolic modeling strategies to predict phenotypes of microbial mutants under data scarcity. She spent a year in RWTH Aachen Uni. with her co-supervisor Dr.-Ing. Birgitta Ebert via Erasmus scholarship.

*Sena Kılıç (BSc in Biology, MSc in Bioengineering, 2021) worked on aptamer-linked peroxidase-like microparticles for antibiotic detection, co-supervised with Prof. Dr. Ali Tuncel, Hacettepe Uni., Chemical Eng. Dept.

*Batuhan Doğan (BSc in Biology, MSc in Bioengineering, 2021) worked on genetic engineering of Bacillus megaterium to overproduce a biodegradable bioplastic Poly-ß-hydroxybutyrate copolymer. He went to Spain for an internship afterwards.

*Murat Akdoğan (BSc, MSc in Chemical Eng., PhD in Chemical Eng., 2021) worked on bioprocess development for polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) production by genetically modified Bacillus megaterium cells. He continues as a PostDoc in our group. Papers from his thesis: Akdoğan and Çelik, 2018 and 2021 are published, and more on the way...

* İlkay Koçer Kuloğlu (BSc, MSc in Chemical Eng., PhD in Chemical Eng., 2021) worked on production of antibody fragments in recombinant bacteria and their development towards medical diagnosis. She continues as a PostDoc in our group. Her first paper from her thesis Kocer et al., 2021 is published, and more on the way...