• A new paper from our group in collaboration with Max Planck has been accepted for publication in ACS Nano and is in press now.

• Dr. Seda Kizilel presented at Gordon Research Conference as an invited speaker. The conference program can be found here.

• Ugur Bozuyuk received “Koc University Academic Excellence Award“. We are proud of you Ugur, congratulations! Our group members have been receiving this award two years in a row at Koc University.
• A new paper from our group has been accepted for publication in ACS Omega and is in press now.

• Our farewell gathering for Derya. We wish all the best in your new career!
• Our paper has been accepted for publication in RSC Advances, May 2018!

• Prof João Mano was our special invited speaker and delivered a wonderful talk on “Soft polymeric microdevices for the incorporation of cells and therapeutic molecules”.

• We have openings for highly motivated PhD and MS students for Fall 2018.The deadline for early applications is April 13, 2018: 

https://gsse.ku.edu.tr/en/admissions/application-deadlines/ 

• Admitted students will have competitive benefits such as stipend, tuition waiver, accommodation, laptop. Please contact Dr. Seda Kizilel (skizilel@ku.edu.tr) for further information.Project titles are listed below:

• Our paper in collaboration with Prof Kazunari Akiyoshi and Prof Yoshihiro Sasaki at Kyoto University has been accepted for publication in Macromolecular Bioscience, Feb 2018!

• Dr Seda Kizilel has joined  PLOS ONE Editorial Board   
• The new year has started with good news. Our proposal has been accepted for funding by TUBITAK!

• Our recent paper about the design of gelatin for GBM-mimetic microenvironment,in collaboration with Dr Tugba Bagci-Onder group at Koc University Medical School, has been accepted for publication in Macromolecular Bioscience, Dec 2017!
• We have openings for highly motivated PhD and MS students for Spring 2018 and Fall 2018. Admitted students will have competitive benefits such as stipend, tuition waiver, accomodation, laptop. Please contact Dr. Seda Kizilel for further information.

• We had our farewell dinner for Tugba, Pelin and Dilem. We wish all the best luck in their careers.
• Pelin Erkoc and Tugba Bal successfully defended their PhD. Dr Erkoc is now a postdoc at Max Planck Intelligent Systems. Congratulations Dr Bal and Dr Erkoc!

• Dilem Oran successfully defended her MS. Dilem will be studying at Max Delbruck Center for Molecular Medicine in Berlin for her PhD. We wish Dilem the best luck in her career.Congratulations!

• Sadi’s paper has been accepted for publication in Talanta. Congratulations!
• We presented our research at Society of Experimental Biology, Gothenburg, Sweden, July 5-7.

• Derya Aydin successfully defended her PhD. Congratulations Dr. Derya Aydin!
• Tugba Bal received “Koc University Academic Excellence PhD Award“. We are proud of you, congratulations Tugba!
• We were proud at Koc University graduation ceremony:

• Our recent paper published in Macromolecular Bioscience has been featured on Advanced Science News! More information can be found in the following link: http://www.advancedsciencenews.com/preparing-brain-tumors-therapy/

• Our collaborative study with Kyoto University has been accepted for publication in ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering. Congratulations!

• • GENERALI is supporting our research! We met with the press on December 22, 2016. The details of the interviews with  the general manager of Generali, Mine Ayhan, can be found in the following links:
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6CJT4U-6Zs
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtJy9fuXBf0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HYwrk6VZJM

and the related news in the media can be found here.

• Our proposal has been accepted for funding by TUBITAK.
• We presented our research at the American Institute of Chemical Engineers  Annual Meeting (AIChE) in San Francisco, CA. Two talks were delivered by Pelin Erkoc:

• 168a Water-in-Water Emulsion Based Synthesis of Hydrogel Nanospheres with Tunable Release Properties

  775b Targeting Cancer Cells Via Tumor-Homing Peptide Creka Conjugated Peg Hydrogel Nanoparticles

• Our lab was well-represented at the Biomedical Engineering Society Annual Meeting (BMES) in Minneapolis, MN. Seda Kizilel delivered oral presentations about our research related to islet-stem cell and GBM targeted therapeutic delivery. The program of the conference is here.

• Our paper entitled as “Quinacrine Mediated Sensitization of Glioblastoma (GBM) cells to TRAIL through MMP-sensitive PEG Hydrogel Carriers” has been accepted for publication in Macromolecular Bioscience, September 2016.
• We welcome our new group members: Birgul Akolpoglu, Ugur Bozuyuk 

• Sadi Gurses successfully defended his MS thesis research. Sadi will be studying at the University of California, Davis in Chemical Engineering for his PhD. We wish Sadi the best luck in his career.Congratulations!
• Our paper entitled as ”Targeting Cancer Cells via Tumor-homing Peptide CREKA Functional PEG Nanoparticles” has been accepted for publication in Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces, August 2016.

• Our proposal for an EU-COST call has been accepted for funding.
• Our proposal about the design of functional surfaces has been accepted for funding by GENERALI.

• Our invited paper entitled as ”Water-in-water Emulsion Based Synthesis of Hydrogel Nanospheres with Tunable Release Kinetics” has been accepted for publication in Journal of Minerals, Metals, and Materials Society (JOMJ), April 2016. The paper will appear in the special issue of “Biomaterials for Healthcare“. Congratulations!

• Seda Kizilel has presented as an invited speaker at  Paintistanbul and Turcoat Congress 2016 on March 22 2016.

• Seda Kizilel will talk about their journey towards the design of functional bitumen for “Koc University AIChE Student Chapter”, Feb 16, 2016 at 5:30 pm:

• More news about us in America’s Scientific American and The Washington Post:

• Our research about anti-icing asphalt attracted a lot of attention from national/international media, scientists and government. Here are some of the news about our work:

• Our recent article in I&ECR has been selected as the topic of a press release that is included in the American Chemical Society (ACS) Office of Public Affairs’ weekly presspac.

• Our paper entitled as ‘Gelation Stabilized Functional Composite-Modified Bitumen for Anti-icing Purposes’ has been accepted for publication in Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research, Nov 2015. Congratulations!
• Our lab was well-represented at the Annual American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) meeting in Salt Lake City, UT. Tugba and Sadi delivered oral presentations. Pelin‘s research was presented in poster session.
• Seda Kizilel was an expert reviewer at European Commission H2020, Nov 15-20, 2015, Brussels, Belgium.

• Our paper entitled as “Photocrosslinking of Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene (SBS) Networks formed by Thiol-Ene Reactions and Their Influence on Cell Survival” has been accepted for publication in Biomedical Materials.

• We presented our research at 2015 4th TERMIS World Congress, September 8-11, 2015, Boston, MA.
• Aysu Okur successfully defended her MS thesis research. Aysu will be studying at the University of California, Davis in Material Science and Engineering for her PhD. Congratulations!
• We welcome our new group members Dilem and Syeda.

• Our paper published in 2011 I&ECR was recognized as one of the Top 10 Most-Cited Contemporary Favorites published in I&EC Research. Full list is here.
• Gunce Cinay successfully defended her MS thesis research. Gunce will be studying at the University of Southern California in Biomedical Engineering for her PhD. We wish Gunce the best luck in her career.Congratulations!

• Gozde Demirer, undergraduate researcher from our lab, graduated from Chemical and Biological Engineering with highest honors. Gozde will be doing PhD at University of California, Berkeley. We wish her the best luck. Congratulations!

• Our invited paper entitled as “Biologically Inspired Design of Biocompatible Iron Oxide Nanoparticles for Biomedical Applications“has been accepted for publication in Journal of Materials Chemistry B. The paper will appear in the Special Edition on “Bioinspired and Natural Materials”.

• Seda Kizilel visited Prof Matt Tirrell’s lab at the Institute of Molecular Engineering(University of Chicago) as Visiting scholar, June-July, 2015, Chicago, IL.
• Our paper in collaboration with Prof Duygu Avci at Bogazici University has been accepted for publication in Journal of Polymer Science Part A.

• Pelin and Gunce presented their research at Frontiers in Polymer Science Conference, Italy May 20-22, 2015.

• Seda Kizilel was invited speaker at Istanbul Uskudar University, April 30, 2015, Istanbul.

• Seda Kizilel was invited speaker at 2nd Meeting on Nanotechnology and Tissue Engineering: Current Challenges and Future Prospects, Istanbul Kultur University, December 20, 2014, Istanbul.

• Seda Kizilel was an expert reviewer at European Commission H2020, Nov 24-28, 2014, Brussels, Belgium.
• We have presented our research at American Institute of Chemical Engineers, (AIChE) Annual Meeting, November 16-21, 2014, Atlanta, GA.

• Our research was on the popular science KURIOUS news!
• We have presented our research at Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) Annual Meeting October 23-26 2014, in San Antonio, TX.

• Our paper entitled as ‘Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) and Ligand Incorporation in Biomimetic PEG Hydrogels Significantly Improve Insulin Secretion from Pancreatic Islets’ has been accepted for publication in Journal of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, September 2014.
• Our paper entitled as ‘Visible-Light-Induced Synthesis of pH Responsive Hydrogel Composite for Controlled Delivery of an Anticonvulsant Drug Pregabalin’ has been accepted for publication in Acta Biomaterialia, September 2014.

• Ozlem Cevik successfully defended her MS thesis research. Congratulations!
• Dogan Gidon, undergraduate researcher from our lab, graduated from Chemical and Biological Engineering with highest honors. Dogan will be doing PhD at University of California, Berkeley. We wish Dogan the best luck in his career. Congratulations!

• Our paper entitled as “Targeted Delivery of Doxorubicin into Tumor Cells via MMP-sensitive PEG Hydrogel Coated Magnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles (MIONPs)”, has been accepted for publication in Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces, July 2014.
• Seda Kizilel was invited speaker at Rush University, July 22, 2014, Chicago, IL.
• Seda Kizilel visited University of Chicago as ‘Koc University Visiting Scholar’ between June-August 2014.

• Our invited review paper entitled as “Design of Bioartificial Pancreas with Functional Micro/Nano Based Encapsulation of Islets” has been accepted for publication in Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, May 2014.

• We presented our research at Society of Biomaterials 2014 Annual Meeting, April 16-19 2014, Denver, CO.

• Seda Kizilel was invited speaker at Stem Cells and Tissue Engineering Conference, March 20-23, 2014, Kocaeli, Turkey.

• Our paper in collaboration with University of Chicago has been accepted for publication in Transplantation Proceedings, February 2014.

• Our paper entitled as ‘Quantification of Interactions Among Circadian Clock Proteins via SPR‘ has been accepted for publication in Journal of Molecular Recognition, January 2014.
• Our collaborators, Prof Sasaki and Dr Hashimoto, from Kyoto University visited our lab, January 2014.
• Our paper entitled as ‘Nanoparticle and Gelation Stabilized Functional Composites of an Ionic Salt in a Hydrophobic Polymer Matrix’ has been accepted for publication in PLoS ONE, January 2014.

• Seda Kizilel was invited speaker at “Ilac Temel Arastirma Merkezi (ITAM)” for the conference held on December 3, 2013, Istanbul.

• We have presented our work at American Institute of Chemical Engineers, (AIChE) Annual Meeting, San Fransisco, CA November, 2013.

• Seda Kizilel was invited speaker at “Istanbul University Experimental Medicine Research Institute (Istanbul Universitesi Deneysel Tip Arastirma Enstitusu (DETAE)“, Istanbul, October 23, 2013.

• Burcu Kepsutlu successfully defended her MS thesis research. Burcu will continue her PhD at Humboldt University in Berlin. Congratulations!
• Seda Kizilel presented our research at “New Frontiers in Health Sciences Conference“, Kyoto, Japan, September 17-18 2013.

• Seda Kizilel has joined ‘International Advisory Board’ of MacroMolecular Complexes, August 2013.
• Seda Kizilel was an invited speaker at 15th IUPAC International Symposium on
  MacroMolecular Complexes, Greenville, SC, August 13-16 2013.

• Our project proposal about the design of a bioartificial pancreas has been accepted for funding by TUBITAK.

• We presented our research in TERMIS-EU in Istanbul, Turkey, June 17-20 2013.

• We attended Frontiers in Polymer Science Conference in Sitges, Spain and presented our research, May 21-23 2013.

• Seda Kizilel was an invited speaker at UNAM, Bilkent University, and Undergraduate Chemistry Club at Bilkent University, April 5 2013.

• Our paper entitled as “Characterization of Protein Release through PEG Hydrogels with Crosslink Density Gradients” has been accepted for publication in Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part A, March 2013.