Molecular Biology and Genetics Seminars: Asst. Prof. Nur Mustafaoğlu
Asst. Prof. Nur Mustafaoğlu from Molecular Biology, Genetics and Bioengineering Department, Sabanci University will be the next guest of the seminar series organized by KHAS Molecular Biology and Genetics Department with her speech “Blood-brain Barrier Models” on Thursday, March 2 at 16:00 on Zoom.
Zoom ID: 879 2674 3341
Abstract: The most enigmatic organ of the human body is the brain. The blood-brain barrier protects it effectively, because it serves as the administrative center (BBB). The BBB, which separates the brain from the circulatory system and other organs, is a distinct, complicated and dynamic interface of the CNS. The BBB helps protect the brain, but it also impedes drug transport to the CNS, which complicates the treatment of brain diseases. Despite the importance of the BBB, we still know very little about the basic processes that contribute to its development, maintenance, and linkage with other parts of the body. Moreover, numerous CNS disorders have a significant impact on the lives of many people and the high mortality and morbidity rates of the modern world. Impaired BBB function has been linked to a number of neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders, trauma, stroke, and brain malignancies. One of the main reasons that the efficacy of drugs to treat neurological disorders is often compromised by their inability to overcome the BBB is that many of these disorders are not known to be curable and current knowledge about them is admittedly insufficient. The Mustafaoglu Lab is developing unique nano-shuttle systems to deliver drugs to the brain and cure brain diseases, as well as state-of-the-art bioengineering platforms to understand the human blood-brain barrier in both healthy and diseased states.
About the Speaker: Nur Mustafaoglu is an interdisciplinary faculty member at the Faculty of Engineering and Science, Sabanci University, and a part-time researcher at Sabanci University Nanotechnology Research and Application Centre (SUNUM). She was a postdoctoral fellow at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University. She holds two bachelor’s degrees: one in molecular biology and genetics and the second in physics engineering from Istanbul Technical University. She also earned a master’s degree in nanoscience and nanotechnology from the same university. She earned her Ph.D. in bioengineering from the University of Notre Dame in the United States, where she went on a Fulbright Scholarship. She is currently working on developing technologies for physiologically relevant in vitro models of the human blood-brain barrier and their applications. Recently, she was awarded the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Widening Fellowship from Horizon 2020. Her PhD and postdoctoral studies have led to publications in prestigious journals such as Nature Communications, ACS Nano, Nanoscale, PNAS and others.