Bioengineering: Regenerative Medicine, Biomaterials Synthesis, and Peptide Characterization Expert

Technical Consultant #2356

Synthesis of polymer hydrogels for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.
Fabrication of electrospun polymer fiber mats.
Polymer surface conjugation with bioactive peptide sequences.
Polymer and peptide characterization.
Microfluidic laboratory setup for tumor metastasis modeling and kinetic studies.
Advanced quantitative microscopy imaging and data analysis.
Streamlining molecular biology laboratory operations.
Project Management, quality management and continuous improvement.
Design, implementation and management of high-throughput library screens.
Atomic force microscopy for measuring biological tissue mechanical properties and advanced fluorescent microscopy.
Laboratory certification.
Mammalian tissue culture laboratory management.
Materials characterization.
Primary cell isolation and maintenance.
High-throughput screening.

Undisclosed University, Postdoctoral Researcher, 2014 - Present

Synthesize novel hyaluronic acid hydrogels for in vitro culture of secretory epithelial cells.
Two component hydrogel created with Michael type addition reaction of hydroxyethyl acrylate functionalized HA (HA-HEA) and thiolated HA (HA-SH).
Hydrogel network was tuned altering disulphide and ester linkages to allow cell assembly into spheroids.
Further bioactive moieties (Maleimide functionalized bioactive peptide sequences isolated from basement membrane of salivary glands) added using a unique Design Of Experiments (DOE) optimization strategy for polarization of spheroids.
Microfabricated functional salivary gland micro-tissue units.
Human primary salivary gland acinar like cells were assembled into tightly adhered spheroid structures using a multi well non adherent cell culture system. Primary myoepithelial cells were co-cultured with the spheroids for a functional tissue unit.
Directed epithelial to mesenchymal transition via synthetic extracellular matrices.
Investigated the role of ECM like fiber diameter on epithelial cluster formation and HGF induced scattering behavior via electrospun polycaprolactone (PCL) fibers conjugated with thiolated RGD as a biomimetic signal.

General Electric Healthcare System, Ankara, Turkey, Clinical Applications Specialist, 2005 - 2007

Responsible for management and implementation of installation processes for GE Healthcare Imaging ultrasound devices.
Conducted operational training sessions for users and new employees.
Responsible for installation, advanced user training sessions, and maintenance of GE 4-D echocardiography devices.

AB Mauri Yeast Production Plant, 2003

Intern for research and development of a pilot plant acting as Bioprocess Engineer.
Assisted an ongoing yeast strain efficiency project and collected time point data from fed batch bioreactors, contributing to the process scale-up pipeline.

Academic Activities

The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 2008 - 2013

Characterized role of substrate topography on osteoblast differentiation.
Investigated the role of MyosinIIa molecule as a mechanosensor directing osteogenic differentiation on polymethylmethacrylate fibrous scaffolds as ECM mimetic topographies.
Characterized role of substrate topography on carboxylated polystyrene nanoparticle uptake.
Explored the effect of ECM like topography on endocytosis of polystyrene nanoparticles (100 nm) and found fibrous scaffolds increase the efficiency of the nanoparticle endocytosis.
Utilized atomic force microscopy and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy to find the relationship between the endocytosis and cellular membrane stiffening.
Identified topography sensing genes using a novel siRNA library approach.
Created a custom fiber deposited 96 well plate to create a siRNA library screen in order to establish the signaling genes altered on fibrous topography.

Bioengineering Department, 2008 - 2010

Quantified role of soluble fibrin in receptor mediated tumor cell adhesion to pulmonary endothelial cells.
Using parallel plate flow chamber, build a kinetic relationship for soluble fibrin mediated melanoma cell capture mechanism to pulmonary endothelium via the involvement of polymorphonuclear neutrophils.
Investigated Tissue Factor-dependent coagulation mechanisms in a melanoma microenvironment.
Using in vitro coagulation assay determined the cellmembrane bound tissue factor and melanoma cell invasiveness. Further assessed the role of membrane bound tissue factor and coagulation kinetics in vitro.

Educator

Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering

Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering (BIOE 201, Core Undergraduate Course).
Invited lecturer for Nucleic Acid Structure, Tissue Engineering and Cellular Adhesion lectures.
Co-developed course materials and a Wiki page to assist students for an in-class module on mathematical modeling of intracellular signaling systems.
Co-developed course training session materials with Matlab.

Bioengineering

Bioengineering first year seminar (BIOE 100, Core Undergrad Course).
Developed course materials (notes and instrumentation sessions) for an in-class module on Musculoskeletal Regenerative Engineering: Introduction to Regenerative Engineering concepts.
Devised a tendon stretch bioreactor kit for use by students in a hands-on section of the course, to introduce criteria for mimicking the dynamic properties of living tissues in in vitro systems for musculoskeletal regeneration.

Microscope Recording

'Make the machine,' a course assisting students in building a 10x magnification microscope and an ECG circuit to explain how to record and analyze data for both (quantifying the resolution for the microscope, recording ECG values from human subjects) of the systems.

Credentials

Certificates

GEM4 Summer School for Cellular and Molecular Mechanics, MIT, Cambridge in silico Systems Biology for complex diseases; network reconstruction, analysis and network based modeling, Hinxton, Cambridge, UK
Management Essentials for Engineers and Scientists

License

Languages

Academic and Professional Affiliations

Awards

Penn State Department of Bioengineering Graduate Research Fellowship
Penn State College of Engineering travel award for GEM4 Summer School for Cellular and Molecular Mechanics, MIT, Cambridge
NSF Fellowship for tuition for GEM4 Summer School for Cellular and Molecular Mechanics, MIT, Cambridge
John C. and Joanne H. Villforth Outstanding student Fellowship for Excellence in Bioengineering
FEBS (Federation of European Biochemical Societies) Youth Travel Fund for attending in silico systems biology for complex diseases; network reconstruction, analysis and network based modeling, Hinxton, Cambridge, UK.
Turkish government Ministry of Education Scholarship (MS in Bioengineering)

Publications

Author and Co-Author of numerous peer reviewed publications:

Scientific journals
Educational text and abstracts
Conduct conferences, presentations-invited talks and seminars with focus to the Bioengineering Industries-Regenerative Medicine.