Members
Dr. Özde Zeynep Güner Yılmaz is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Biofunctional Nanomaterials Design (BiND) Laboratory (Max Planck Partner Group) at Boğaziçi University. She received her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Istanbul Technical University in 2026. Her research focuses on the design, development, and characterization of multifunctional biomaterials and nanomaterial-based systems for therapeutic and diagnostic applications. She is involved in the physicochemical and biological characterization of these materials to optimize their performance for biomedical applications. With an interdisciplinary background spanning chemical engineering, biomedical engineering, and computational structural biology, she has expertise in both experimental biomaterials research and computational molecular modeling.
Yağmur Zengin received her B.Sc. degree in Bioengineering from Yıldız Technical University in 2021. She worked as an undergraduate researcher at the YTU Cell Culture Laboratory from 2019 to 2021. During this period, she experimentally studied polymeric nanoparticles for drug delivery. Yağmur is currently pursuing a Ph.D. degree in Biomedical Engineering at Boğaziçi University. She is a member of the Biofunctional Nanomaterials Design Lab at Boğaziçi University. Her research interests include nanotechnology, drug delivery, gold nanorods. She is working on a 2247-D project funded by TUBITAK.
Zeynep İrem Özcan completed her undergraduate degree in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Izmir Katip Çelebi University in 2018, ranking second in the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture. She spent the 2016 Spring semester of her undergraduate education at Jade University of Applied Sciences, receiving an EU Erasmus scholarship. She received her MSc degree in the Biomedical Engineering program at Istanbul Technical University in 2021. She has worked as a research assistant since the beginning of 2020 at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at Boğaziçi University. She is a PhD student at Boğaziçi University Biofunctional Nanomaterials Design Laboratory. At the same time, she is carrying out her PhD studies within the scope of 'Neurotechnological Solutions Platform Against Challenges That Threatening Human Function', supported by TÜBİTAK 1004. Her research interests include polymeric nanocarriers, nanotheranostic, and drug delivery systems.
Damla Kelle received her B.Sc. degree in Bioengineering from Yıldız Technical University in 2021. During her B.Sc., she done her internships at a neuro-oncology laboratory and a microbiology laboratory. After that, she pursued her M.Sc. degree in Biomedical Engineering from Boğaziçi University in 2023 as a member of BiND Lab where she worked on the interactions between polymeric nanocarriers and proteins. She is currently a Ph.D student as a member of BiND Lab in Biomedical Engineering at Boğaziçi University.
Dilan Avşar received her BSc degree in Mechanical Engineering and Physics departments from Boğaziçi University, Istanbul in 2016. She continued her study in Mechanical Engineering with a master thesis on local field enhancement of core-shell nanoparticles. She has been studying in the Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Boğaziçi University as a PhD student since 2021. Her research areas include nanobiomaterials, plasmonic nanoparticles, and drug delivery. She is a member of BiND Lab and she worked on a project (2247D) funded by TÜBİTAK.
Ebru Saraç recieved her B.Sc. degree in Biomedical Engineering from Yeditepe University at 2021. During her B.Sc. study, she has done internship in Biomaterials and Medical Metrology Laboratories at TÜBİTAK in which she worked on electrospinning. On her graduation project, she worked on characterization of injectable bone cements. She recieved her M.Sc. degree in Biomedical Engineering from Boğaziçi University at 2024 and in her thesis she worked on Antimicrobial Photodynamic Therapy. Currently, Ebru is a Ph.D. student in Biomedical Engineering at Boğaziçi University as a member of the Biofunctional Nanomaterials Design Laboratory. Her research interests include nanocarriers, drug delivery and photodynamic therapy.
Metehan KÖKLÜ graduated from Istanbul Bilgi University with a Bachelor's degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering in 2020. His graduation thesis focused on designing a Low-Budget and Low-Power Video Laryngoscope. This project was awarded support from TÜBİTAK BİDEB 2209-A – Research Project Support Programme for Undergraduate Students, and also qualified for participation in the TÜBİTAK BİDEB 2242 – University Students Research Project Competitions. Additionally, the project, conducted in collaboration with Istanbul Bilgi University, is currently in the patent application process. He later received his MSc degree in Biomedical Engineering from Acıbadem University in 2023, with a thesis titled: "Lens Design and Fabrication Method for a Portable Handheld Slit Lamp Biomicroscope". Between 2023 and 2024, he worked as a teaching assistant at Istanbul Bilgi University. He is currently a PhD student at Boğaziçi University, where he is a member of the Biofunctional Nanomaterials Design Laboratory.
Öznur Safgöl received her B.Sc. degree in Bioengineering from Yıldız Technical University in 2023. During her B.Sc., she done her internships in the fields of cancer biology, experimental animals, drug delivery systems, and stem cells. Also, her project, which is called “Formation of Beta-Cyclodextrin Inclusion Complexes for Improving Antioxidant Activity” has been funded by TÜBİTAK 2209-B. During this period, she worked as an undergraduate researcher at YTU Functional Nano-Biomaterials and Peptide Chemistry Research Group. She also worked as an undergraduate research intern at BiND LAB within the scope of TÜBİTAK 2247-C. Öznur is currently pursuing a M.Sc. degree in Biomedical Engineering at Boğaziçi University. Her research interest are drug delivery sytems, nanotechnology and cancer biology.
Melis Seray Kocaman received her B.Sc. degree in Chemical Engineering from Istanbul Technical University in 2023. She spent a semester as an Erasmus exchange student at École Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Rennes in France. During her studies, she had an internship at Koc University KUBAM Lab on synthesis and characterization of thermoelectric materials. She also took part in a study group focused on molecular dynamic simulations of biological systems, modeling enzymatic reaction mechanisms, and computer-aided drug design studies at ITU CSECC Sungur’s Lab. Seray joined BiND Lab in July 2022 as an intern and her interests include nanotechnology, drug design and drug delivery systems.
Öznur Köşker received her B.Sc. degree in Molecular Biology and Genetics from Istanbul Technical University in 2024. She completed her graduation project focusing on omega-3 production of microalgae under salt and microplastic stresses. She conducted her internships in areas of environmental DNA metabarcoding, microbial biotechnology, protein-protein interactions, and protein structure-function relationships. She worked as a scholarship student at TUBITAK UZAY for two years, and she was involved in conceptual biological investigation scenarios for the Turkish Moon Rover mission. In addition, she was a research associate at Blue Marble Space Institute of Science, where she conducted bioinformatics research on halophilic archaea remotely under the mentorship of Prof. Shiladitya DasSarma.
She joined BiND Lab in May 2024 as an intern and studied nanoparticle stability for drug release experiments. Her research interests span across fields like synthetic biology, molecular bioengineering, drug delivery systems, cancer biology, and space biology
Havva Duru received her bachelor's degree from the Department of Bioengineering at Yıldız Technical University in 2021. During her undergraduate studies, she gained experience in various fields by completing internships at the Molecular Cancer Biology Laboratory of Istanbul University, the Molecular Cell Biology Laboratory of TÜBİTAK MAM, and the Bionanotechnology Center of Acıbadem University. In her undergraduate thesis, she worked on the development and characterization of Aloe vera-loaded chitosan nanoparticles for wound and burn treatment. She is currently pursuing her master's degree in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Boğaziçi University and continues her research as a member of the BiND Lab. Her research interests include biomaterials, drug delivery systems, cancer biology, and nanotechnology.
Vasiliki graduated from the University of Ioannina, Greece, with a Bachelor's degree in Chemistry in 2024. For her graduation thesis, she worked on the composition and characterisation of novel antibacterial silver nanoparticles. She conducted internships in clinical biochemistry at the University Hospital of Ioannina and in forensic toxicology at the University of Turin, where she was part of the Research Team on Anti-Doping and Toxicology. She is currently a Master's student in the Erasmus Joint Master's programme "Advanced Spectroscopy in Chemistry" (ASC), attending the University of Lille (2025–2026) and the University of Bologna (2026–2027).
She joined BiND Lab in June 2026 as an intern and is working on the design and development of nanocarriers for drug delivery applications. Her research interests include nanoparticle synthesis and characterisation, advanced spectroscopy, and drug delivery systems.
Betül received her BSc degree in Molecular Biology and Genetics from Boğaziçi University in 2026. During her undergraduate studies, she gained research experience in molecular biology and biochemistry through research projects and internships in Türkiye and Germany, including an Erasmus+ exchange period at the University of Münster and a research internship at the University of Göttingen. Her graduation project investigated cellular responses to replication stress in iPSC-based disease models. She joined the Biofunctional Nanomaterials Design Laboratory in March 2026 and is currently involved in nanoparticle-based drug delivery studies for breast cancer applications. Her research interests include nanomedicine, immunology, and biomedical research.
Celal Burak Sudar studied Molecular Biology and Genetics at Boğaziçi University. During his undergraduate studies, he completed internships in both the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors, gaining experience in genomic technologies, molecular diagnostics, and data analysis. In addition to his wet-lab work, he engaged in two early-stage ventures focused on computer-vision-based pathology detection and sequencing data analytics. Currently working as a research intern at BiND Lab, he focuses on nanoparticle synthesis and stability. His research interests include nanomedicine, targeted drug delivery systems, cancer biology, genomic data analytics, and biomedical applications.
Antonia-Ioana Balcu is a medical student at “Iuliu Hatieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Romania. Since 2024, Antonia has been a member of the Student Scientific Research Group within the Department of Analytical Chemistry and Instrumental Analysis at her university. She has been involved in research focused on the development of targeted delivery systems based on magnetic particles, metallic particles, and metal oxide nanomaterials. Her work has focused on the design, preparation, and evaluation of advanced materials with potential biomedical applications. She was also an undergraduate research intern in a microbiology laboratory. She joined the BiND Lab in July 2026 as an intern. Her research interests include nanotechnology, cancer biology, and drug delivery systems.
Merve Biner is a senior student in the Molecular Biology and Genetics department at Boğaziçi University. She completed an Erasmus+ laboratory internship at the Hungarian Research Network, where she learned bioinformatics and sequencing in an epigenetics and genome-editing laboratory. Additionally, she completed another internship at KUTTAM (Koç University) in Devrim Gözüaçık’s laboratory studying autophagy and cytokine pathways. She is a research intern under the TÜBİTAK 2247-C STAR program, working on the project titled "Development of Multimodal Polymersomes for Image-Guided Drug Delivery Applications (MULTIPOLE)."
