The project implemented by Merve Senem Seven, a post-doctoral researcher at Sabancı University Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, qualifies for support within the framework of the TÜBİTAK 1505 University-Industry Collaboration Support Program.

Merve Senem Seven's project is entitled “Use of Waste Cellulose as Incombustibility Agent in Plastics through Upcycling Method”. The project aims to include waste cellulose in additives and chemicals used in plastic parts in white goods as flame retardants (FR) to present an environment-friendly and original alternative in a high-value added field.

The project will last 2 years, and Ceren Kovancı from Arçelik company takes part in the project as the project officer.

Talking about the importance of the project and giving further details, Seven said, “Through the use of bio-based incombustible materials developed with cellulose additives for the first time in white goods, the approach to FR additives will change completely, and it will be proven that it is possible to develop flame retarding performance which can be developed without causing any destruction to the ecosystem. I believe the project will introduce an innovative and more environmentally friendly approach to replace incombustibility agents, which are hazardous chemicals that are very commonly used in the industry.”

Sabancı University Istanbul International Center for Energy and Climate (IICEC) has released IICEC Activity Report 2019 & 2020

Please click to read IICEC Activity Report 2019 & 2020

Sabancı University Istanbul International Center for Energy and Climate (IICEC) has released the twenty-second issue of IICEC Energy Market Newsletter.

Please click to read IICEC Energy Market Newsletter

Organized within the framework of Sabancı University Summer High School, all the terms of the Summer High School, School of English and Summer School in Applied Nanotechnology were completed. Sabancı University Summer High School was held online and hosted students from 23 provinces and 4 countries.

Held since 2011 to help high school students between 13 and 17 to prepare for a multicultural university setting and develop themselves in their personal areas of interest, the Sabancı University Summer High School took place online this year. This year, the Summer High School was attended by 565 students from 23 Turkish provinces including Adana, Ankara, Antalya, Aydın, Balıkesir, Bursa, Denizli, Diyarbakır, Edirne, Elazığ, Erzurum, Eskişehir, Isparta, İstanbul, İzmir, Kayseri, Kocaeli, Konya, Manisa, Mersin, Muğla, Samsun and Sivas, and 4 countries including Germany, the United States, Spain and Israel.

Sabancı University Online Summer High School

During the Summer High School, which was held in three terms, each of two weeks, students chose among more than 40 university courses on natural sciences, engineering, social sciences, arts, management and professions, and took part in projects and activities to transform their summer holiday into an enjoyable learning experience

Sabancı University Online School of English

Enriched with entertaining activities, Sabancı University Online School of English offered an environment to students between 13 and 16 in which they could develop their English language skills. In addition to intensive English courses, students were able to expand their horizons through extra-curricular personal development seminars and activities to promote the University.

Sabancı University Online Summer School in Applied Nanotechnology

Held to raise awareness about recent developments and applications in nanotechnology and provide some guidance to students about their choice of profession in the future, the Online Summer School in Applied Nanotechnology enabled students interested in science and laboratory research to benefit from the expertise and leadership of Sabancı University Nanotechnology Research and Application Center (SUNUM).

The project submitted by Canan Atılgan, Faculty Member at Sabancı University Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences (FENS) qualifies for support within the framework of the TÜBİTAK 1001 program.

Canan Atılgan’s project is entitled “A Generalized Computational Methodology for the Design of Genetically Encoded Fluorescent Biosensors”. Emrah Eroğlu and Ali Rana Atılgan, members of FENS, will act as researchers in the project.

The project aims to develop a holistic process that eliminates experimental trial and error stages in biosensor design, takes into account not only the binding region but rather the whole protein structure, and therefore puts more emphasis on the computational steps while also including experimental measurements.

Providing further information on the scope of the project, Canan Atılgan said, “Based on the premise that the problem of designing Genetically Encoded Florescent Biosensors (GEFBs) may be optimized only with a holistic approach that covers the whole protein structure, we aim to produce systematic and generalizable solutions to this problem through effective interventions at molecular level. Emrah Eroğlu will test and perfect the designed GKFBs in his lab. With our multidisciplinary project, which is plannned to continue for three years and will fund the scholarships of three PhD students, we hope to contribute to the basic science literature while we also manufacture prototype GEFBs on the applied side.”

Talking about the importance of the project and giving further details, Canan Atılgan continued, “There are many small molecules that are involved in metabolic processes in the routine functioning of a cell. Under conditions that challenge a cell’s functionality, changes in the number of these small molecules hint at the existence of extraordinary circumstances. For example, we can observe oxygen depletion in cancer cells resulting from metabolic reprogramming congruent with microenvironmental changes and the growth of co-factors such as NADPH; functional changes in brain diseases are consistent with the presence of free iron. Therefore, on-site measurement of selected molecules in live cells is important for early diagnosis and treatment. In practical settings, GEFBs are becoming the technologies of choice. GEFBs are nanotechnological tools which measure conformational changes in a protein that bonds a molecule through florescence, eliminating the need for additional complex equipment. Our faculty member Emrah Eroğlu is an expert in the development of such biosensors in a lab setting. While having scientific conversations with him in Fasshane during the pandemic, we learned that the manufacturing of functional GEFBs required trial and error processes that could literally take years. With our faculty member Ali Rana Atılgan, who is also a part of this project, we determined that it is theoretically possible to shorten the process by utilizing the functions encoded in the three-dimensional structures of proteins that constitute the GEFBs. Of course, there are technical hurdles that must be overcome in practice, but the current computational biology literature only focuses on those related to the design near the binding site of the ligand intended to be measured, a viewpoint we hope to change in the field.”

The project coordinated by Sabancı university will help develop a human epilepsy model on a chip

Coordinated by the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences of Sabancı University, the project entitled “human epilepsy model on a chip” will be the first in vitro human epilepsy model fit for the design and testing of medication, and will enable the development of innovative steps that may positively affect the lives of epilepsy patients in the long term.

The project is coordinated by Nur Mustafaoğlu, member of the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences of Sabancı University, and involves Prof. Mehmet Kaya and Prof. Bülent Ahıshalı from Koç University, Nasrollah Tabatabaei from Tehran University for Medical Science, Vahid Bazargan from Tehran University and Zahra Shiri from the Royan Institute.

Although epilepsy is a chronic neurological disease, the world of medicine has only limited information about the pathogeny of the disease in humans. As many refractory epileptic cases cannot be treated with existing medications, in vitro human epilepsy models are needed urgently. A project implemented under the coordination of the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences of Sabancı University will positively impact the lives of patients with epileptic seizures. In this project, the aim is to merge microfluidic devices with sophisticated stem cell technologies to develop a human epilepsy model on a chip. This model will be the first in vitro human epilepsy model to include a blood-brain barrier (BBB) component and enable research into cellular interactions and scanning anti-epileptics that can permeate the BBB.

The project will last 18 months. In addition to Nur Mustafaoğlu, member of the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences of Sabancı University, who acts as the project coordinator, Prof. Mehmet Kaya and Prof. Bülent Ahıshalı from Koç University, Nasrollah Tabatabaei from Tehran University for Medical Science, Vahid Bazargan from Tehran University and Zahra Shiri from Royan Institute take part in the project. The project is further supported within the framework of TÜBİTAK2535 Iranian Ministry of Science, Research and Technology (MSRT) Collaboration Program.

Sabancı University, the coordinating institution, will be respobsible for project steps which include obtaining brain vein and neuron cells from stem cells, putting these cells in a culture within microfluidic chips and ensuring they remain functional as they would in a human body. Prof. Mehmet Kaya and his research team from Koç University’s Faculty of Medicine will first build an in vitro blood-brain barrier model and contribute to the detection of barrier characteristics in endothelium cells. Afterwards, they will provide both experimental and theoretical support to determine the functions of neurons in the in vitro epilepsy model and understand the impact of blood-brain barrier characteristics on these neurons. Microfluidic chips will be designed and manufactured in Iran by a team coordinated by Nasrollah Tabatabaei with the participation of people from various universities and institutes. The results of the work of the teams in Iran and Turkey will eventually be merged to generate a model fit for medical trials in a microfluidic chip environment by using live cells from humans with epilepsy.

Pointing out that although epilepsy was a chronic neurological disease, the world of medicine had only limited information about the pathogeny of the disease in humans, Nur Mustafaoğlu highlighted that in vitro human epilepsy models were needed urgently.

Saying that the ‘epilepsy model on a chip’ project would have both a scientific impact in the field and a social impact on public opinion, Nur Mustafaoğlu continued, “The technology and knowledge developed for the design and manufacturing of the chips and for the diversification of stem cells will open new routes for further research. In addition, the epilepsy on a chip model will be the state-of-the-art in vitro human epilepsy model to be used in the development of medications. It will also act as the best tool to study cellular and mechanical interactions during epileptogenesis. Therefore, this project’s results will potentially contribute to the development of new medications that make life easier for many people with epileptic seizures.”

The winners of the “Best Article Competition” organized by the Center of Excellence in Functional Faces and Interfaces for Nano Diagnosis (EFSUN) of Sabancı University have been announced in a Zoom event held on 17 August 2021. The competition started with the opening speech of the Sabanci University Vice President of Research Prof. Mehmet Yildiz.  The FENS faculty member Prof. Emre Erdem was the presenter of the comptetion. 

10 finalists consisting on distinguished young scientists from different disciplines publishing articles with high impact on Functional Faces and Interfaces presented their articles in the event. 

The winners of the Best Article Competition were selected by the evaluation committee consisting on well-known and active scientists from different disciplines: 

1-Dr. Sibel Çetinel, SUNUM 

2-Dr. Özlem Kutlu, SUNUM 

3-Dr. Rükan Genç, Mersin Üniversity 

4-Dr. Emre Erdem, Sabancı Üniversity 

5- Dr. Ozan Akdoğan- Bahçeşehir Üniversity 

In the competition where the members of the committee carefully evaluated each article and presentation; 

Researcher Mahshid Hashemkhani took the first place with her article titled “Cetuximab-Ag2S Quantum Dots for Fluorescent Imaging and Highly Effective Combination of ALA-based Photodynamic/Chemo-Therapy of Colorectal Cancer Cells’’; 

Researcher Soroush Niazi  took the second place with his article titled “Bio-coated surfaces with micro-roughness and micro-porosity: Next generation coatings for enhanced energy efficiency”; and 

Researchers Faezeh Ghorbanizamani ve Hichem Moulahoum shared the third place with their articles titled  “Dye-Loaded Polymersome-Based Lateral Flow Assay: Rational Design of a COVID-19 Testing Platform by Repurposing SARS-CoV‑2 Antibody Cocktail and Antigens Obtained from Positive Human Samples”  and “Quantitative paper-based dot blot assay for spike protein detection using fuchsine dyeloaded polymersomes” , respectively. 

More information about these articles could be obtained using the following links:

1. https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2021/nr/d1nr03507j 
2. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0360544221002085 
3. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34270230/ 

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0956566321005212

9^th Dali International Photography Exhibition 2021 showcase includes works of Sabancı University alumni.

With the theme of "Life is Elsewhere – Reconfiguration and Distance", the 9^th Dali International Photography Exhibition 2021 showcase nearly 600 exhibitions and more than 20,000 photography works. This year's photography exhibition adopts a combination of online and physical displays. In addition to the presentations, 720-degree virtual panoramic photography will serve as the virtual guide to all venues. The digital exhibition is wholly preserved from outdoor to indoor to create a photography exhibition that never ends.

This year, Sabancı University Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences member Asst. Prof. Dr. Yoong Wah Alex Wong curated Effloresce, comprised the works of five Turkish female photographers and Sabancı University alumni, Neslihan Koyuncu, Beril Ece Güler, Özge Kepenek, Nagihan Aydınlık, and Ecem Güleç.

Please click to read the bios of Sabancı University alumni.

Alex Wong, Cedric van Eenoo and Salleh Japar also co-curated Proj3V (Visualise, Voice and Vision) in the 9^th Dali Intl Photography Exhibition 2021, comprised the student works from Sabancı University (FASS/VAVCD) and Lasalle College of the Arts, Singapore. Proj 3V exhibitors are Nur Nurdoğdu, Gamar Karimli, Yeraz Arslan, Fazera Makrof, Pauline Wong, Marie Andrada, and Fei Pan. Some of the selected photography works was presented in FASS Art Gallery, Sabancı University from 21^st June – 9^th July, 2021.

Alex Wong’s new book Vanishing White and solo photography series, Melting Glaciers are showcased in the exhibition as well.

The 9^th Dali International Photography Exhibition 2021 can be visited in Dali city until 31^st  October 2021.

For more info:

https://720yun.com/vr/450zecqz2iz

https://720yun.com/vr/920zb9qt2r5

https://720yun.com/vr/2b1z81qvnke

http://www.dipephoto.com

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/7ity8KCPBdFqbZZMpfGdaA

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/7uTmJsIwxQcbxlECI5PDXw

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/9NlZm_VpL478cyF4-jtc4g

https://research.sabanciuniv.edu/41527/1/Vanishing_White_Book_sample_pages.pdf

Sabancı University Center of Excellence in Data Analytics (VERİM) qualifies for support within the framework of EuropeAid - Innovative Media for Peace, Social Cohesion and Reconciliation in Turkey, the Middle-East and North Africa, for a project in which it will act as a researcher institution.

Implemented by the Hrant Dink Foundation, and including Sabancı University VERİM and Boğaziçi University as researcher institutions, the project is entitled “Utilizing Digital Technology for Social Cohesion, Positive Messaging and Peace by Boosting Collaboration, Exchange and Solidarity.”

Berrin Yanıkoğlu and Reyyan Yeniterzi from the Computer Science and Engineering Program of the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences (FENS) and Ayşecan Terzioğlu from the Cultural Studies Program of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences are involved in the project as researchers. The project aims to detect and decrease hate speech and disinformation in social media automatically through interdisciplinary and collaborative work.

Talking about the importance of the project, Berrin Yanıkoğlu said, “I am happy about the multi-partner and inter-disciplinary aspect of the project and the fact that our research in the field of artificial intelligence will be used in a way to benefit society. Moreover, it is very pleasing that the interdisciplinary collaboration that was started between social sciences and VERİM for a similar project in the past continues to grow thanks to this project.”

Highlighting two important aspects of the project, Ayşecan Terzioğlu continued, “The first aspect is about better understanding the dimensions of hate speech, which prevents the creation of a healthy dialogue in social discussions, in order to find out how more inclusive and pluralistic dialogue can be established. The second aspect is that with this project we constitute a good example of academy-NGO collaboration by working together with Boğaziçi University and the Hrant Dink Foundation, which has worked extensively and published detailed reports on the causes and consequences of hate speech. Our path crossed with the Hrant Dink Foundation for the first time in 2020 on occasion of an international conference that the Foundation held about hate speech. I am very happy that we will collaborate with the Hrant Dink Foundation on this project.”

Pointing out the project’s intention to detect hate speech, an ever-growing issue worldwide, Reyyan Yeniterzi said, “In today’s world, where we observe increased use of social media, people are becoming more and more insensible to who will read content in social media and how the readers will perceive what they read. This project is important because it aims to detect hate speech, which is becoming more and more widespread in every society. We are excited by the fact that we will detect hate speech with artificial intelligence tools and that the latest technology will be used for social benefits. We will try to create social awareness about hate speech through the tools and sites that we plan to develop with Boğaziçi University and the Hrant Dink Foundation, believing the issue to be a sensitive and important one.”

Sabancı University, Enerjisa and UNDP join forces to transform Küçükköy into a model of environmental sustainability

Tourism is a vital economic sector for Turkey, but current business models pose a threat to the rich natural environment that makes the country such an attractive destination. That is why Sabancı University, Enerjisa Enerji and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have joined forces to develop a “green destination model” and pilot efforts to infuse energy efficiency, the use of renewable energy and other sustainable practices into tourism businesses in Küçükköy, a promising tourism location along Turkey’s Aegean coast in the Ayvalik district, which already hosts one million visitors each year.

With an 18-month timetable, the initiative aims to develop a scalable, replicable and sustainable tourism implementation model that will reduce use of fossil fuels while expanding the application of renewables, a field where Turkey’s potential remains largely untapped. The joint effort to create a Centre of Sustainable Energy-Based Tourism Implementation (SENTRUM) in Küçükköy is just the beginning: the results of the pilot will be applied in other locations.

“We are delighted that Sabancı University has forged a triangle of success with UNDP and Enerjisa,” said Güler Sabancı, Chair of the Board of Directors of Sabancı Holding and the Founding Board of Trustees of Sabancı University. “The University’s philosophy is based on joint development. Our objective is to educate students to respond to and live within and for society. Our partnership with UNDP and Enerjisa reflects this outlook and we will accomplish wonderful things for this world in unity and cooperation.”

Tourism is a key sector of the Turkish economy, contributing an estimated 12.7 percent of GDP in the last pre-pandemic year of 2019. Ensuring the environmental, social and economic sustainability of the tourism sector is thus among Turkey’s national development priorities.

“Tourism is a sector with rich potential for Turkey” said Louisa Vinton, UNDP Resident Representative in Turkey. “But there is a real risk this potential will be wasted if we continue to violate environmental limits. Our aim is to help tourism firms become friends of nature.”

Kıvanç Zaimler, President of Sabancı Holding Energy Group and Chair of the Board of Directors of Enerjisa Enerji said “Every step we have taken for more than 90 years under the umbrella of Sabancı Group is illuminated by our vision of giving back to these lands what we have taken from these lands. Based on this vision, the scope of our project will not be limited to tourism businesses, buildings and museums in the region; it will be aimed to increase the awareness of the people of the region and local and foreign tourists visiting the region on energy efficiency and sustainable tourism”.

With funding from Enerjisa, UNDP will prepare a destination-specific socio-economic and environmental plan for Küçükköy; a situation analysis for local tourism enterprises on energy saving, energy efficiency and use of renewable energy resources; a sustainable production and consumption strategy; and a green procurement and supply chain management strategy.

Promoting green energy is just one part of the sustainability equation, however. Building on UNDP’s integrated approach, the initiative will also seek to ensure that local communities reap benefits from tourism. Here opportunities for women will be in focus: for example, UNDP will provide local women with training in energy audits and energy consultancy for tourism businesses in an effort to overcome the gender gaps that are standard in the energy sector.

To ensure local ownership and inclusiveness, project activities will also engage municipal and provincial authorities, NGOs, universities and local communities. To this end, UNDP will set up a SENTRUM Coordination Office at Sabancı University’s Creative Technologies Atelier in Küçükköy. The Office will promote knowledge about energy efficiency and renewable energy.

Enerjisa Energy will incorporate project results into its initiative “İşimin Enerjisi (Energy of My Business),” which promotes energy efficiency, renewables and reducing carbon emissions.