Members
Özde Zeynep Güner Yılmaz received her B.Sc. degree in Chemical Engineering from Istanbul Technical University in 2018 and completed her M.Sc. degree in Biomedical Engineering at Boğaziçi University in 2020, where her thesis focused on the functionalization of carbon nanotubes for drug delivery in cancer therapy. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at Istanbul Technical University, supported by the YÖK 100/2000 Priority Areas Ph.D. Scholarship. Her doctoral research focuses on computational structural biology, particularly small molecule-protein interactions and ligand-induced communication pathways. These studies are complemented by her work on injectable, biocompatible hydrogel systems and nanocarriers for controlled drug delivery and tissue repair. She is currently working in a TÜBİTAK 1004 project as a member of the Biofunctional Nanomaterials Design Laboratory.
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 is currently working 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.
Irem Sultan Ilci received her bachelor’s degree at Yildiz Technical University, Department of Bioengineering. In her senior year, she involved in DxBiotech Lab through the TUBITAK-STAR project. Also, her project, which is called “Shelf-Life Control of Pills with Smart Film Based on Color-Changing of Beta-carotene,” has been funded by TUBITAK-2209B. During her master’s education, she has been at the Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology in Germany for an ERASMUS internship that is about behavioral neuroscience. Currently, she is a member of BiND Lab and continuing her master’s education at Bogazici University in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. Her academic interests are biotechnology , drug delivery systems, and nanotechnology.
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.
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.
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.
Pelin Naz Kartal graduated from Istanbul Technical University with a Bachelor's degree in Food Engineering in 2021. For her graduation thesis, she conducted research on the nanoencapsulation of plant phytochemicals for Attention Deficit - Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Subsequently, she obtained an experimental animal use certificate from Yeditepe University, enabling her to conduct pre-clinical experiments. Following this, she participated in the TUBİTAK 1512 program at the ITU Çekirdek Incubation Center with her ADHD project. The program facilitated the expansion of her project in terms of technology and scaling up, with the guidance of an advisory board of experts in the field. Currently, she is a member of BiND Lab and pursuing her master's education at Bogazici University in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. Her research interests include neuroscience, nanotechnology, drug delivery, and drug design for psychiatric and neurological disorders.
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.
Esin Şen is a third-year Bioengineering student at Yıldız Technical University. She completed an internship at the Polymer Research Laboratory of Istanbul Technical University, and conducted voluntary research internships at the Boğaziçi University Biomimicry and Bioinspired Biomaterials Laboratory and Acıbadem LabCell. Additionally, she has contributed to projects within the Polymer Technologies Team, focusing on drug delivery systems, biomaterials, and tissue engineering. She is currently a research intern at BiNDLab under the TÜBİTAK 2247-C STAR program, working on the project titled “Development of Multimodal Polymersomes for Image-Guided Drug Delivery Applications (MULTIPOLE).
