Members

Dr. Özgecan Erdem holds B.Sc. degree from the Department of Biology, Hacettepe University. In 2014, she completed her Master’s degree in the Biotechnology Division at the same department, where she performed research on fungal-assisted bioremediation of textile effluents. During her Ph.D. studies, Dr. Erdem designed and synthesized the imprinted polymers at molecular-scale, which were then integrated with optical sensors to detect microorganisms (T4 bacteriophage and Enterococcus faecalis) from real-world samples. At the Incilab, she is working on the development of point-of-care (POC) devices for diagnosis of microorganisms, which have devastating impact on public health. 

Dr. Erdem is a recipient of the Sancar Fellowship (Support Program for Research Excellence) through the consortium between Hacettepe University and Bilkent University UNAM.

İsmail Eş graduated from the Department of Bioengineering at Ege University in 2009. He obtained his MBA degree in Marketing at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) in 2011. In 2015, he received his master’s degree in Genetics and Molecular Biology from the Federal University of Goias (Brazil), where he conducted research on biocatalyst immobilization to synthesize pharmaceutical metabolites. He concluded his Ph.D. in the School of Chemical Engineering at the University of Campinas (São Paulo, Brazil). During his Ph.D. studies, he has gained a considerable amount of experience in microfluidic technology as an effective tool towards nanomedicine. He manufactured microfluidic technology to synthesize lipid-based gene delivery systems, which were then tested on tumor spheroids as a microfluidics-based 3D cell culture model. In 2019-2020, he was accepted as Honorary Research Associate in the Department of Biochemical Engineering at University College London, UK. His research at UCL focused on the fabrication of tumor-on-a-chip models. In 2020-2021, he worked as a post-doctoral research fellow in the School of Pharmacy at the University College London, UK. He developed microfluidic systems to increase the productivity of viral particles (AAV vector) to be used for gene/vaccine therapy as a part of the European Union Interreg 2 Seas – Innovative Multicomponent Drug Design Project. Recently, he has joined Dr Inci’s lab and currently works with metamaterial sensor production and biomarker determination.

Dr. Akceoglu graduated from Department of Biology at Istanbul University in 2007. He completed his Master’s degree in Molecular Biology Genetics and Biotechnology in 2011 at Istanbul Technical University and perform his research on Improvement of ethanol resistance of commercial yeast strains by using in vivo evolutionary engineering methods. He had followed and completed his PhD degree in Material engineering in January 2016 from Nagoya University (Japan). For his PhD education, he was awarded by YKK (Yoshida Kogyo Kabushikikaisha) Foundation scholarship, which is one of the highest grants in Japan for the most successful foreign students. In addition, patents secure his interdisciplinary research themes and applications, and they are translated into viable commercial products manufactured by Takara-Bio Inc. in Japan. During his PhD education he had been a part of industrial-academic collaboration projects as a researcher&developer with Toyota and Takeda companies similarly had gain experience working with international researcher groups (under JSPS core-to-core program) like Chulalongkorn University (Thailand), Korea Maritime and Ocean University(S.korea) and Vietnam National University. In 2016 he worked as an Assistant Professor at Okan University (Turkey), Department of Genetics and Bioengineering. Dr. Akceoglu received TUBITAK 2218 – National Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Programme in 2021 and joined Incilab for researching on hybrid sensor development and implementation for exosome detection at the patient-care point.

Ilgım Göktürk (Ph.D.) graduated from the Department of Biology at Hacettepe University in 2008. She was a visiting researcher in the Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology at Linköping University, Sweden in 2015. She received her master’s degree (2011) and Ph.D. degree (2016) in the Department of Nanotechnology and Nanomedicine at Hacettepe University. During this period, she gained experience in molecular imprinting technologies and analytical separation techniques, especially capillary electrochromatography (CEC). Her main research fields are chromatography, affinity-based nanomaterials, and optic sensors. She received the 2218-National Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Programme from TUBITAK and joined Incilab.

Murat graduated from the Bilkent University Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering in 2016. He then obtained an MSc from the same department in 2019 working with Neurmorphic circuits. He joined İncilab with the aim of incorporating his engineering experience with the ongoing Precision Health research.

Nedim Hacıosmanoğlu graduated from Istanbul Technical University’s Molecular Biology and Genetics graduate program in 2016. During his undergraduate studies, he received TUBITAK funding for 2209-A Student Projects to characterize DnaK mutations, participated and awarded with bronze medal at International Genetically Engineered Machines competition with an illegal-drug biosensor, as well as awarded as National Winner of Akcansa-Heidelberg Biodiversity Projects and gained TUSIAD Sustainability medal in 2016 along with his team-members. In 2016, he joined Institute of Materials Science and Nanotechnology at Bilkent University and UNAM to pursue his studies on Synthetic Biology and Biomaterials studies. After his graduation in 2019, he continued with same program as a PhD student to work on engineered probiotics, pathogen detection systems and characterization of bioelectronic components for engineered genetic systems. Detailed information on his studies and his published work could be found online. He joined Incilab for working on biosensors and microfluidic systems. 

Esma Derin holds her bachelor’s degree in bioengineering from Marmara University. Her undergraduate education was majorly focusing on the design and development of bioprocesses and bioreactors. One of her training was related to the establishment and optimization of fermentation process in order to produce oligosaccharides, including feeding strategies, process modelling. Her graduation project subject was “Optimization oxygen transfer rate for bacterial cellulose production “via Komagataeibacter hansenii“, which was supported by TÜBİTAK.  Ms. Derin joined Dr. Inci’s lab to gain experience about the intriguing and multidisciplinary research topics, such as applications of microfluidics and microchips in biology and medicine.

Eylül Gülşen Yılmaz holds her bachelor’s degree in Molecular Biology and Genetics from Middle East Technical University. While she was undergraduate, she worked on brain aging, stem cells and new cell formation. She especially worked on monitoring Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSC) with biomarkers in the process of neuronal transformation. Later, she developed herself in the field of bioinformatics and made ‘A Database Index of Fish Transcriptome Profiling’ in her senior year. She joined Dr. İnci’s team to develop herself in microfluidics and biosensors, which were different from the fields she had worked until this time, and to use them in different disease diagnoses.

Kutay Sağdıç holds his bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from TOBB Economics and Technology University. His undergraduate education was majorly focusing on microfluidics device design, biosensors, materials science and surface modification and biofilms. One of his training was related to the microfluidic simulations for shear stress on the endothelial cells and the fabrication process of microfluidic chips in order to detect free radicals via nanodiamonds from stream. His graduation project subject was biocompatible surface modification in Shape Memory NiTi Alloys via Plasma Polymerization Technique, which was supported by TÜBİTAK 1001.  Mr. Sağdıç joined Dr. Inci’s lab to gain experience about the intriguing and multidisciplinary research topics, such as applications of microfluidics and microchips in biology and medicine. 

Selvin Yıldız holds her bachelor’s degree from Istanbul Technical University department of Molecular Biology and Genetics. During her undergraduate studies she did one of her internship in UNAM, on whole cell biosensor design to detect toxic effects of nanomaterials. She also attended the Erasmus internship program at Institute of Molecular Genetics of the ASCR in Prague, Czech Republic. It was in the Laboratory of Cancer Cell Biology and her project was mainly about a protein kinase with unclear function and unknown set of substrates. Her graduation project was about yeast stress resistance and she performed variety of related physiological and microbiological analyses on S.Cerevisiae. She joined to Dr. Inci’s lab in order to learn multidisciplinary research topics and to have lab experience about their applications.

Yusuf Aslan holds his bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Hacettepe University. His undergraduate education was majorly focusing on chemical reaction engineering and reactor design. During his undergraduate studies, he worked on manufacturing and optimization of electrospun nanofibers for the purpose of antibiotics removal from wastewater. Additionally, he took Biotechnology courses to learn about the fundamentals and applications of Biology in chemical industry. His graduation project was focusing on the production of chromium trioxide on mass level by green-based process. In 2021, he joined Incilab to learn fundamentally and have hands-on experience about the integration of multidisciplinary research topics and their applications, such as biosensors and microfluidics on point-of-care studies.

Hussain Kawsar Chowdhury (Dhrubo) holds his bachelor’s degree in Textile Engineering from Khulna University of Engineering and Technology, Bangladesh. His undergraduate studies mostly focused on fibers, polymers, and composites, and their applications in the industrial manufacturing of textile. His undergraduate thesis was on biopolymer modification for achieving improved properties to utilize biopolymer-based waste from textile industries. He also has industrial experience through an internship in a textile manufacturing industry in Bangladesh. He has joined Dr. Inci’s lab to gain knowledge and research experience in multidisciplinary fields, such as wearable biosensors, microfluidics, and flexible electronics. 

Emre ECE graduated from Anadolu University, Department of Chemistry in 2021. During his undergraduate education, he worked on topics such as tissue engineering, bacterial culture, catalyst production and protein purification. With the TUBITAK-3001 project he was involved in in 2019, he increased and improved his experience in bacterial culture and enzyme purification. After the TUBITAK project, he worked in the tissue engineering laboratory. Among these works, the preparation of bioink, the production of scaffolds and obtaining microspheres using microfluidic systems were his great field of work and a source of motivation for his future studies. In 2020, he carried out his work on the case distribution of the COVID-19 world map remotely with the University of Limerick. Finally, he purified keratin from human hair in her dissertation project. He joined Incilab in January 2022, where he continues to work on microneedle and microfluidic systems.

Ahmet Batuhan Bayraktar is a medical student at the Faculty of Medicine, Hacettepe University. During the high school, his scientific project was awarded a silver medal in the International Sustainable World Project Olympiad (ISWEEP-2015) in the United States. Moreover, he ranked the 51th in math and 70th in science among two million students in the university entrance exam in Turkey (2017). During his clinical training at Hacettepe University Hospital, he received 2247-C Intern Researcher Scholarship Program (STAR) from TUBITAK in 2021 and joined to Dr. Inci’s lab to learn multidisciplinary research topics along with hands-on experience. His current research interest focus on detecting biomarkers for precision health aspected and early diagnosis of acute kidney injury.

İrem Kaya is currently continuing her Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering at Ankara University. She is involved in various projects. She completed hospital and industry internships. Her areas of interest are biosensors and bioinstrumentation.

Sena Taştekin is currently doing her Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry at Middle East Technical University. She has previously worked on biosensors and is currently working on organic synthesis at METU. She is experienced in nickel catalyzed cross coupling reactions.

Rumeysa Öz is a junior student at the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, METU. During her sophomore year, she had a chance to investigate the positive effects of calorie restriction on the cell cycle in age-related zebrafish skeletal muscle degeneration, which was funded by TUBITAK 2209-B program. Now, she will work on extracellular vesicles in kidney diseases at the Incilab, and her internship is sponsored by  TUBITAK under the STAR Program. She is also interested in neuroscience and projects to study neuroscience with combinations of microfluidic systems in the future. 

Burak Görmüş is currently pursuing a B. Sc. degree in Mechanical Engineering at Bilkent University and will graduate in June 2022. His research interests are the finite element method and microfluidics. Besides his studies, he is also interested in artificial intelligence and machine learning.

İrem Sena Karagözler is currently pursuing Bachelor’s degree in Molecular Biology and Genetics with a double major in Food Engineering, Middle East Technical University. She has completed multiple internships so far. She has conducted researches on cancer and food safety in these internships. In Incilab, she will focus on designing smart materials for cell manipulation strategies. Her main research interest is Cancer Physiology.

Seydin Erhan Gönül is a junior student at the Molecular Biology and Genetics Department in Bilkent University. He previously worked in the Izmir Institute of Technology – Plant Molecular Biology Lab on plant transfection, which he is most excited about. In Incilab, his biggest ambition is exploring new methods combining microfluidics and plant transfection.

Mehmet Tascioglu is currently a senior at Northville High School in Michigan, United States. Previously, he has completed projects on “Gene Expression in SARS-CoV-2 Cells” at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor and “Dendritic Nanocapsules for Cancer Treatment” at Wayne State University. Mehmet joined the Inci Lab because he is excited about the future of the interdisciplinary research approach on microfluidics and precision medicine.

Duygu Deniz received her B.S. in Biology and minor degree in Environmental Microbiology from Middle East Technical University (METU). She completed her Master’s degree in the Biotechnology Department at the same university. She worked on controlled topical drug delivery with polymeric nanoparticles on electrospun nanofibers for wound healing, at the same time she participated to a TUBITAK project related with drug release via magnetic nanoparticles to 2D and 3D cell cultures for breast cancer therapy. Currently, she is a PhD student in Material Science and Nanotechnology Department at Bilkent University. She is passionate about applying her knowledge to practically solve health challenges through the toolbox of biosensing and biomedical engineering. Her PhD studies are co-supervised by Assoc. Prof. Dönüş Tuncel and Asst. Prof. Fatih İnci. At Incilab, she will extend her research directions into biosensors and biomedical applications.

Ekin Bircan Boşdurmaz is currently pursuing Bachelor’s degree in Electrical & Electronics Engineering with double major in Physics, Bilkent University. He is also currently an undergraduate researcher in NANOTAM under the supervision of Prof. Ekmel Özbay. He is experienced in simulations of optical and plasmonics systems. His main research interests are nanoplasmonics, nanophotonics, and metamaterials.

Emre Acartürk is currently pursuing Bachelor’s degree in Electrical & Electronics Engineering with double major in Physics at Bilkent University. He mostly focuses on theoretical calculations and simulations. His main research interests are mathematical and computational physics.

Ege Balcıoğlu is currently completing his Bachelor’s degree in Electrical & Electronics Engineering, Bilkent University. He has previously worked under Prof. Dr. Sinan Gezici to research and simulate Visible Light Communication networks. Furthermore, he is an expert in various programming languages ranging from C# and 8051 Assembly Code. His main research interest is telecommunications.

Amirhossein Maghsoudi at present is a senior Electrical and Electronics Engineering student at Bilkent University. His main areas of interests are optics, electromagnetism and antenna engineering and machine learning.

Ozan Kırdar is currently an undergraduate student in Electrical & Electronics Engineering, Bilkent University. He is majorly focusing on embedded systems programming and design. His main research interests are control systems and telecommunications.