LAB MEMBERS
Dr. Serkan Kır received his PhD degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas in 2011. He completed a Post-doctoral fellowship at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Harvard Medical School with Prof. Bruce Spiegelman and joined Koç University in 2017 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics. Dr. Kır’s research interests include adverse effects of tumors on energy metabolism.
PhD Students
Aylin Domaniku Waraich
I completed my undergraduate studies at Bahçeşehir University, department of Molecular Biology and Genetics. I participated in different TÜBİTAK projects focusing on the cancer-inhibitory role of certain therapeutic agents. I did a two-month Amgen Scholars internship in the field of Clinical Neuroscience at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden. During my internship, I worked mainly in dry lab and performed basic computational analysis using R software program. Currently, I am undergoing my studies as a PhD student at Serkan Kır’s laboratory at Koç University.
Samet Ağca
I received my B.S. degree from the Molecular Biology and Genetics Department and double major Chemistry at Koc University in 2020. I started my Ph.D. studies at Koç University in the team of Dr. Serkan Kir. First year I worked on identifying proteins in cancer cell secretion that are active in the tumor microenvironment and analyzing RNA sequencing data. I am currently working on tumor-induced alterations in single-nucleus transcriptome of atrophying muscles.
H. Dilşad Arabacı
I graduated from Bilkent University, MBG. During my undergraduate studies, I did an internship at Ankara University Biotechnology Institute, during which I learned basic cell culture techniques. My second internship was at Innsbruck University Institute of Molecular Biology, and my project was on challenging strategies in genome editing approaches to study functions of MNX1. After getting my bachelor's degree, I joined Serkan Kır's Laboratory as a Ph.D. candidate.
Sevgi Döndü Özen
I have done internships at Ege University and Stuttgart University on cancer glycobiology, HPLC, Bombyx Mori histology, Metastatic cancer cells and GEF signaling pathways. After that, I received my Bachelor’s degree from Istanbul Technical University with the second highest GPA after completing my graduation thesis about the quorum quenching mechanism in membrane filtering mechanisms of wastewater treatments and image processing of confocal microscopy images. I am currently working on a project about the molecular level of exercise-induced muscle hypertrophy in Serkan Kır’s Lab.
Aleyna Kızılyer
I completed my undergraduate studies at Istanbul Technical University, majoring in Molecular Biology and Genetics, in 2023. During my undergraduate years, I actively participated in a TÜBİTAK project focused on the 'Characterization of Immunometabolism of Regulator B Cells'. Additionally, I pursued internships at both Sabanci University, where I gained valuable insights into the machine learning, and at the Adana Genetic Diseases Diagnosis and Treatment Center/ Balcali Hospital, where I delved into the disciplines of Medical Genetics and Cancer. Currently, I am pursuing my Ph.D. studies at Serkan Kır’s Metabolism and Cancer Laboratory at Koç University.
Atakan Özcan
I graduated from Bilkent University, Molecular Biology department. I did an internship at Cologne University on characterization of olfactory system of zebrafish. Throughout my internship I learned dry lab techniques and usage of different microscopes. Now I am a PhD student at Serkan Kır’s Lab.
Melis Sucuoğlu
I graduated from Boğaziçi University, molecular biology and genetics department. I was already doing an internship at Serkan Kır's laboratory for 1.5 years as an undergraduate. Now, I have started my studies as PhD student at Serkan Kır's lab.
MSc Students
Undergraduate Students
Past Members
Şevval Nur Bilgiç
Bahar Weber
Sanaz Naghizadeh
Elif Mahmutoğlu
Yağmur Kaya
Aynur Kashgari
Batu Toledo
İbrahim Oğuz