Özbek Lab Team

Prof. Uğur Özbek, MD, PhD

Prof. Uğur Özbek graduated from Istanbul University, Cerrahpaşa Medical Faculty in 1986. He received his PhD degree on Cancer Genetics at the Oncology Institute in 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 of 1998-2000, he worked at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Genetics Department in Memphis as a postdoctoral research fellow on molecular genetics of leukemogenesis. In 1997, he became an Associate Professor in Basic Oncology and in 2003 he became full Professor in Genetics. He has been awarded Querido Chair professorship at Erasmus University Medical Faculty, given on behalf of its founder A. Querido. He worked as a faculty member at Istanbul University Institute of Experimental Medicine, Genetics Department between 1994-2016. In this period, he pursued duties that consist of being a member in Forensic Medicine Council, as a consultant in Forensic Biology Department; a faculty member and director of Istanbul University Health Sciences Institute Genetics Graduate Program and the director of Institute of Experimental Medicine, Istanbul University. He worked at Istanbul Acıbadem University, School of Medicine between 2016 and 2023, where he served as the director of Health Sciences Institute and chair of Medical Genetics Department. In 2017, he established the Center for Rare and Undiagnosed Diseases at Acibadem University-ACURARE, first of its kind in Turkey. In 2023, he joined IBG as the ERA Chair of the RareBoost project.

Dr. Ozbek is working as a scientific advisory committee member at Health Institutes of Turkey (TUSEB) since 2016. He is also national coordinator for Orphanet in Turkey since 2006. His research interests include delineation of the genetics and molecular biological mechanisms underlying childhood and adult hereditary cancers/hematological malignancies and rare/undiagnosed diseases.

Assoc. Prof. Evin İşcan, PhD,

Researcher

Assoc. Prof. Evin İşcan graduated from Ege University, Faculty of Science, Department of Biology in 2006. She completed her master’s degree in 2009 and her PhD in 2014, both at Dokuz Eylül University (DEU), Institute of Health, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics. Between 2014 and 2018, she worked as a postdoctoral fellow at IBG and at the same time worked as a specialist at DEU Izmir International Biomedicine and Genome Institute from 2015 to 2021. She worked as a lecturer at the same institute from 2021 to 2024 and was appointed Associate Professor in 2024.

During her master’s and doctoral studies, Dr. İşcan conducted extensive research on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), focusing on the signaling pathways and tumor microenvironment involved in HCC development. In her postdoctoral research at IBG, she investigated the role of the p73 protein in HCC progression and its therapeutic potential, as well as the mechanisms underlying drug resistance in HCC. As a research associate, Dr. İşcan developed expertise in zebrafish to study human cancers and rare disease modeling. She expanded her research by collaborating with Linköping University and Bioreperia in Sweden under the EMBO Researcher Exchange Program and contributed to zebrafish xenograft studies.

In September 2024, Dr. İşcan joined the Özbek Lab team at IBG as a researcher and group member. Her current work focuses on elucidating the mechanisms underlying rare diseases and rare cancers and developing targeted therapies for these diseases.

Burcu Akman, PhD

Postdoctoral Researcher

Dr. Burcu Akman completed her undergraduate education in the Biology Program of the Faculty of Science at Ege University and her Master’s degree in the Medical Biology Program of İzmir Katip Çelebi University Health Sciences Institute. She received her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Genetics from Dokuz Eylül University in 2021, with her doctoral studies focused on deciphering genetic and epigenetic abnormalities in B cell lymphomas. Following her graduation, she was involved in postdoctoral projects at IBG, which explored the role of epigenetic dysregulation in disease pathogenesis. In June 2024, Dr. Akman joined RareBoost as a postdoctoral researcher, and her current work focuses on understanding epigenetic mechanisms in rare diseases and rare cancers.

Tuğçe Batur, PhD

Postdoctoral Researcher

Dr. Tuğçe Batur graduated from Bilkent University with a bachelor’s in molecular biology and genetics in 2011. She pursued her Master’s in molecular biology genetics, and bioengineering in Sabancı University. She completed PhD degree in İzmir International Biomedicine and Genome Enstitute, in Ozturk Lab. on Cancer Mechanisms and Theranostics. She continue her postdoctoral studies in Dimitrov Lab on Chromatin Biology in İzmir Biomedicine and Genome Center in 2022. In May 2024, She joined Rare and Undiagnosed Disease Platform as a post-doctoral researcher.

Ravza Nur Yıldırım, MD

Medical Geneticist, Researcher

Dr. Ravza Nur Yıldırım graduated from Ege University School of Medicine in 2016. Following her graduation, she served as a general practitioner in various hospitals under the Ministry of Health, fulfilling her compulsory service requirement for 13 months. In 2023, she completed her medical genetics training at Dokuz Eylul University Research Hospital. Dr. Yıldırım has conducted extensive research in genomics, focusing on multiple congenital anomalies, metabolic diseases, neurodevelopmental disorders, epileptic syndromes, intellectual disabilities, hereditary cancer syndromes, infertility, autism-related syndromes, hereditary dementia, immunodeficiencies, and hereditary cardiomyopathies. In April 2024, she joined the Ozbek Lab team at the IBG as a researcher.

Mert Pekerbaş, MD

Medical Geneticist, Researcher

Dr. Mert Pekerbaş graduated from Ege University Faculty of Medicine in 2018. After graduation, he worked at Artvin Arhavi Community Health Center for 5 months. In 2024, he graduated from Ege University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medical Genetics as a Medical Genetics Specialist. During his residency, Dr. Pekerbaş conducted extensive clinical and translational research, focusing on cancer and ageing genetics and epigenetics. In December 2024, he joined the Özbek Lab team at IBG as a researcher.

Emre Özzeybek, MSc.

Bioinformatician

Emre Özzeybek completed his Bachelor’s Degree in the Computer Engineering Department at Middle East Technical University in 2020 and his Master’s Degree in the Bioinformatics Master’s Program at Middle East Technical University in 2023, with a thesis titled “Species Classification From Short Genomic Reads Using Feedforward Neural Networks.” During his Bachelor’s, he worked as a database developer in a private company for a year. Since February 2024, he has been working as a bioinformatician at the İzmir Biomedicine and Genome Center on the Rareboost ERAChair project, focusing on genomic variant detection and interpretation. He has set up the infrastructure for secondary and tertiary variant analysis and is trying new tools to improve their results.

Ayça Yiğit, MSc.

PhD Student, Variant Analyst

Ayça Yiğit is a PhD candidate in the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics at the Izmir Biomedicine and Genome Institute. She graduated from the Genome Studies Master Program with a thesis titled “Utilization of Whole and Clinical Exome Sequencing Data in a Turkish Cohort of Cerebral Palsy Patients to Identify Novel Candidate Genes and Variants and Increase Diagnosis.” She works in the field of genome analysis with a focus on rare diseases. Since October 2023, she has been working as a Variant Analyst on the RareBoost project.

Aliye Kübra Ünal, MSc.

Administrative Research Assistant 

Kübra Ünal completed her Bachelor’s Degree in the Health Administration Department at Hacettepe University in 2019 and her Master’s Degree in the Healthcare Management Master’s Program at Suleyman Demirel University in 2021, with a thesis titled “Implementation of a new product development process based on Quality Function Deployment (QFD) in a health institution.” During one semester of her undergraduate studies, she participated in the Erasmus+ learning mobility program in health administration at Westsächsische Hochschule Zwickau in Germany. She is currently pursuing her PhD studies at Suleyman Demirel University in the Department of Healthcare Management. Since December 2023, she has been working as an administrative research assistant at the İzmir Biomedicine and Genome Center on the Rareboost ERAChair project, focusing on genomic variant detection and interpretation.

Begüm Utz, PhD

Scientific Communications Officer

Dr. Begüm Utz earned her bachelor’s degree from the Medical Biological Sciences Program at Istanbul University Cerrahpasa School of Medicine and her master’s degree from the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics at Bogazici University where she studied the genetic modifiers of Huntington’s disease age of onset. She then worked in research laboratories at Charite Medical School in Berlin, Germany; St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, TN, USA; and Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, TN, USA; on various projects related to gene therapy in mouse models and the role of microRNAs in myelodysplastic syndromes. Dr. Utz completed her PhD in the Department of Biological Sciences at Vanderbilt University in 2018. Her dissertation research explored the role of tumor microenvironment on cancer cell migration. She subsequently moved to Helsinki, Finland, to undertake a postdoctoral project with the University of Helsinki’s Translational Cancer Biology Research Program. Following this, she joined a biotechnology startup company in Turku, Finland, as a Product Manager. In 2023, Dr. Utz joined the RareBoost project as a Science Communication Officer.

Emine Eylül Taşkın, MSc.

Scientific Communications Officer

Emine Eylül Taşkın holds a Master’s degree in Nursing from Dokuz Eylül University (2011). While she was a graduate student, she gained hands-on experience as a Registered Nurse in orthopedics and traumatology unit at Dokuz Eylul University Research and Practice Hospital in İzmir and as a volunteer nurse consultant in the same department. With a strong foundation in healthcare and a global outlook, Taşkın has built a diverse career spanning both the private and non-profit sectors. In 2011, she relocated to the United States to join CERI (Cancer Education and Research Institution) as a Research Assistant. Her dedication to public health led to the publication of the article “Tanning and Melanoma Risk” in 2014. Simultaneously pursuing an undergraduate degree in International Relations, Taşkın took on the role of Communications and Project Consultant at LinkUS PR, Istanbul. Here, she excelled in managing and developing social responsibility initiatives, collaborating with professionals across various industries. Building upon this experience, she successfully led the disaster relief project (Helix of Hope) at the Young Live Foundation (YLF) in 2023 in Izmir, demonstrating her ability to optimize resources, foster partnerships, and achieve outstanding results. Certified in Professional Project Management by Google (2024), Taşkın has joined the RareBoost Project Team as a Scientific Communications Officer to develop a strategic communication plan.

Noor Fatima, MSc.

Training Officer

Noor Fatima holds an MS in Biotechnology with distinction, graduating as a Gold Medalist in 2020, and a Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry in 2018, from the Institute of Biochemistry and Biotechnology at the University of the Punjab, Pakistan. During her MS she worked as researcher in “Biopharmaceutical and biomarker discovery lab” at University of the Punjab. Her research focused on Cancer Genomics and Epigenetics, particularly in discovering non-invasive prognostic biomarkers for glioma. She has a proven track record of managing and implementing effective teaching strategies and sessions as an IGCSE Biology teacher at CSS Global (2022). Her expertise in inquiry-based and project-based learning, EdTech integration, and advanced pedagogical techniques, and interpersonal skills have been instrumental in creating an engaging and supportive learning environment. Her background as researcher and trainer uniquely position to bridge the gap between cutting edge research and effective knowledge dissemination. She joined IBG as Training Officer in 2024, to develop training programs that educate and empower the next generation of scientists and healthcare professionals in the field of rare diseases.