Rabia Tuğçe Yazıcıgil, graduate of Sabancı University Electronics Engineering Program, has developed a chickpea-sized, ingestible capsule that transmits wireless data in collaboration with MIT in her laboratory at Boston University. The capsule will enable early diagnosis of gastro-intestinal diseases without the need for an endoscopy and pave the way for quick treatment.

Carrying out her studies in the laboratory she established at Boston University Electrical and Computer Engineering Program after graduating from Sabancı University Electronics Engineering Department, Assistant Professor Rabia Tuğçe Yazıcıgil made an important breakthrough. Assistant Professor Rabia Tuğçe Yazıcıgil developed a chickpea-sized, ingestible capsule that transmits wireless data in collaboration with MIT. The capsule will enable early diagnosis of gastrointestinal diseases without the need for an endoscopy and pave the way for quick treatment.

Completing her master’s degree at EPFL in Switzerland after graduating from Sabancı University Electronics Engineering Department, and obtaining her PhD from Columbia University Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department, Rabia Tuğçe Yazıcıgil completed her post-doctoral studies in the laboratory of Anantha Chandrakasan, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering in MIT. Establishing her own laboratory at the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department of Boston University as an Assistant Professor, Yazıcıgil also continues to work at MIT as a visiting researcher. 

Rabia Tuğçe Yazıcıgil described her collaboration with MIT as follows: “This research is carried out in collaboration with the teams of Prof. Timothy Lu and Prof. Giovanni Traverso from MIT. Our research is funded by Helmsley Charitable Trust. With MIT, we have designed an ingestible, chickpea-sized capsule transmitting wireless data to monitor the gastrointestinal system continuously and without any intervention. This capsule can be used to diagnose and monitor diseases such as Crohn’s, colitis, upper intestinal hemorrhages and other gastrointestinal failures. Our high-definition biochemical sensor will facilitate diagnosis of diseases and make it possible to start the treatment process quickly. Inflammations and diseases in the gastrointestinal system are usually diagnosed through examination of endoscopy images obtained under supervision of a doctor. However, since endoscopy is a technology that requires some intervention, it can be applied to patients a limited number of times per year, which makes it harder to monitor patients continuously. Furthermore, endoscopy is a camera-based system, which fails to indicate molecular traces of diseases." 

THE CAPSULE TRANSMITS DATA WITH A WIRELESS SENSOR EVERY 10 MINUTES

Pointing out that the capsule previously designed by the team at MIT was larger, Yazıcıgil continued, "In our new study, we aimed to decrease the size of the capsule to millimetric dimensions to make it safely ingestible. We modified the capsule to enable it to sense hemorrhages in the stomach or gases that may be indications of other diseases. Activated every 10 minutes, the capsule processes signals for 16 seconds and transmits these to a mobile phone or a computer in 12 milliseconds with a wireless sensor. You can think of the capsule we designed as a technology that is in your body to monitor your health, sense signs of diseases in your gastrointestinal system, and give you information without going to a hospital." 

Saying that in vitro tests were completed successfully, Yazıcıgil added, "The next step is about carrying out in vivo tests. The most important thing is that we are now one step closer to clinical applications, because our capsule is of a millimetric size and can operate at very low levels of power (10^-9 Watt - nanoWatt). Our target for the future is that such capsules will not need any source of power, battery etc. and will operate with the energy they harvest in the stomach.”

Center of Excellence for Functional Surfaces and Interfaces for Nano diagnostics -EFSUN is happy to announce that EFSUN Best Paper Competition will be held on the 17th August between 9.30-12.15 via Zoom.  

There will be 10 finalist presentations to recognise the scientific paper of outstanding young scientists on Functional Surfaces and Interfaces from different disciplines.  This is a free event. Please contact Prof. Emre Erdem (emre.erdem@sabanciuniv.edu)  for attending to this event. This event is a perfect opportunity to have awareness of the recent developments in the field.

Applications have started for the GEARING-Roles (Gender Equality Actions in Research Institutions to transform Gender Roles) Project competition held by Sabancı University Gender and Women’s Studies Center of Excellence (SU Gender).
In the GEARING-Roles competition, which is held on the theme of Resistances to Gender Equality, 5 winners will be picked for 2 prizes, namely the Research Prize and the Creative Prize.

The Research Prize
For the Research Prize, you are expected to submit short research papers (maximum 1,000 words) on the topic of resistances against gender equality. A winner will be selected from three different categories: a Bachelor, Masters and PhD. Essays must be submitted in English but please state if this is not your first language and consideration will be given to this fact in the judging.
The Creative Prize
For the Creative Prize GEARING Roles will select a winner from two categories: videos (max length 2 minutes) and cartoons/illustrations both of which must show how to counter resistances to gender equality with humour.
Entries do not need to be artistically perfect as it is the ideas and innovation behind the submission that the judges will look out for.
The competitions’ winners will get an all expenses paid trip to Estonia. Winners will also have the opportunity to build on their work and improve it with the help of experts and consultants. 
The deadline is 30 September 2021, and the winners will be announced on 11 October 2021.
For more information, please contact Olivia.iannelli@trilateralresearch.com or ilayda.ova@sabanciuniv.edu.

The theme for the 2022 edition of the annual Sakıp Sabancı International Research Awards given by Sabancı University is “The Future of Globalization: Return of the State?”. The deadline for submissions is January 14, 2022.

The Sakıp Sabancı International Research Awards involves a Jury Prize that will be awarded to an individual who has made distinguished contributions on the above-mentioned theme. In addition to the Jury Prize, Essay Awards will be given to three researchers under 45 years of age. An independent and international jury will select the Essay Award and Jury Prize awardees.

Award Theme

Globalization has transformed the relations between state, market, and society. At the turn of the century, protests, and movements against the financial and trade institutions of globalization have led scholars to study its broken promises, its winners and losers and the growing discontent. Twenty years forward, we are facing a backlash against globalization beyond its economic dimension.  Withdrawals from international and regional institutions, electoral successes of nationalist leaders, anti-immigrant sentiments are the new manifestations of this backlash against political and social globalization.

Yet, we do live in a world of states. The pandemic has once again revitalized this ongoing debate on whether globalization is in retreat and whether we are witnessing the comeback of the state. If so, what kind of a state? The complexities of the modern world have arguably made the structure and capabilities of the state ever more consequential for its society as well as the broader international society. Emergence of a truly multipolar world and the alternative models of state capitalism under authoritarian governments also call into question what kind of future awaits the globalization phenomenon.

Essays that address such topics are welcome.

Awards

The Sakıp Sabancı International Research Awards involve a Jury Prize of 25,000 USD. The Jury Prize will be presented to an individual who has made distinguished contributions to the above-mentioned theme. An independent and international jury will select the Awardee. The essay award includes 10,000 USD for each of the three award-winning essays selected by the same jury from among submitted essays.

The deadline for the submissions is January 14, 2022.

For further information: http://award.sabanciuniv.edu

The project coordinated by Eren Günseli, member of Sabancı University Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, is entitled to support in the scope of TÜBİTAK 1002 Quick Support Program.

Eren Günseli’s project is entitled “The effects of distraction during memory retrieval on the probability of recall and precision of memoranda”. The project aims to measure the impact of divided attention on memory retrieval, using various distracting tasks. The project will last one year. In addition to Eren Günseli, who will act as the project coordinator, Nursima Ünver, a graduate student in Psychology, who assumed a critical role in preparing the project proposal, will take part in the project.

Providing details about the project, Günseli said, “Most daily occupations are based on past knowledge, experience, and memories. Long-term memory needs attention both to encode and retrieve such information. Previous research indicated the importance of attention for encoding information to the memory. However, the findings regarding the effects of attention during long-term memory retrieval remain inconsistent. Until recently, researchers believed that the main reason for this incompatibility was that tasks used as retrieval tasks were different or these tasks required efforts at different levels. On the other hand, studies on memory assumed that memory performance operated with the “all or none principle”, according to which the only criterion of remembrance performance was whether a representation is remembered or not. However, recent studies that use innovative analysis methods show that both the probability of recall and resolution of representations could be criteria for memory performance in both the working memory and the long-term memory.”

Emphasizing the importance of the project, Günseli continued, “This will be the first project that examines how the probability of recall and resolution are impacted by attention by making use of innovative analysis methods to study the relation between attention and probability of recall in the long-term memory. Analysis of data obtained will be studied using mixture model statistical analysis. The mixture model enables the researchers to estimate the margin of error in the tasks assigned to the participants as two separate parameters, namely probability of recall and resolution of representations. Therefore, this project aims to fill the gap in the field of studies focusing on the relation between attention and memory by demonstrating for the first time in the literature how the impact of attention on remembrance acts on the probability of recall and resolution of memoranda.”

During her opening address, Meltem Müftüler-Baç, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences of Sabancı University, stated that inequalities had grown bigger and more complicated during the pandemic and continued, “Particularly those women giving primary care faced great difficulties in labor force participation during the pandemic. Structural injustice and inequalities have become deeper in the recent months.”

Hülya Adak, Director of SU Gender, said, “The pandemic made many problems and inequalities manifest. To SU Gender, the pandemic showed that feminist solidarity can be expanded and deepened through digital platforms and networks. Our training programs grew and became more widespread without any space limits or health-related concerns.” Citing Columbia University Women and Gender in Global Affairs (WGGA) and Berlin Free University’s Margherita von Brentano Zentrum among the feminist networks that SU Gender joined during the pandemic, Adak added they organized joint conferences, invited speakers, exchanged library data and sources, and advised graduate students in different countries thanks to such solidarity. She pointed out that they held webinars on sexual harassment and gender-based violence jointly with universities in Turkey and abroad, and thus became a leading center and platform for academic and activists’ work in new fields such as digital violence. She stated that such webinars and joint action plans were very important to facilitate new modes of fight against violence during the pandemic. She highlighted that, in the summer of 2020 when the Istanbul Convention was questioned, SU Gender’s social media work underlined the importance of this convention and the women’s, LGBTQI+ and minority rights it protected in international and national platforms. Saying that they were involved in 5 EU Horizon 2020 projects during the pandemic, Adak added that their thematic focuses were inequalities during the pandemic, immigration, gender, and climate, and that the Marie Curie post-doctoral scholarships awarded to them made it possible for the Center to grow and upgrade its capacity. Adak said that the Sabancı University Gender Equality Action plan for the COVID 19 period had been published, and that they guided activists, high school teachers, and the world of business through their brand-new programs. She pointed out that the pandemic enabled them not just to survive but to open up to new horizons and grow.  

Linda Zerilli, a Charles E. Merriam Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago delivered a speech as guest speaker at the conference. She had a critical approach to the waves metaphor, which is used to refer to the history of the feminist movement in the USA. She touched upon the political history of Western feminism and how this history could be considered in alternative ways with a radical democracy perspective. Saying that the waves metaphor enabled feminists to move on referring to their predecessors, Zerilli pointed out that this feeling of the past actually constituted a source for today’s actions. She emphasized that it was necessary to remember there was no evolutionary line between the past, the present and the future, and pointed to feminist memory works that focus on fragmented narrative. Zerilli said, “according to Hannah Arendt, feminist history is very important, but for our action, today must be important and contribute to the incomplete project of freedom.” Zerilli underlined that women were not involved in the writing of national histories. 

On the second day of the conference, Joan Tronto, Professor of Political Science at the University of Minnesota, also one of the leaders of a feminist ethics of care, delivered her keynote speech entitled “Beyond Wealth-Care: Democratic Caring as the Path to a Caring Democracy”, during which she mentioned the importance of care-centered economic perspectives and democratic institutions. She highlighted that the world was going through not only a climate crisis but also a demographic crisis, and that there were inequalities between poor and rich countries. She continued,“It is possible to cope with the crises we face; the cure lies with global democratic actions. However, many people stand away from political life. Everywhere in the world, people are less committed to a democratic life, because being a citizen of a democratic country involves making serious, well-informed choices. At this point, it is important to talk about wealth-care, which currently shapes economic policies, and lies at the center of everything that is being done. Due to imbalances, material inequalities start to look natural and become accepted by everyone, and the public just support this. Wealth-care became deeper with the pandemic. In the last one and a half years, some people have gained huge wealth. In various parts of the world, including a rich country like the US, people failed to provide PPE to their healthcare staff, medical staff members losing their lives were put into plastic bags. Yes, there is wealth out there but no funds were available to medical staff for PPE. Of course, wealth is not a bad thing, but when it belongs to only one individual, knows no limits, or no restrictions on exploiting the environment, then it becomes a problem. During our lives, we are both caretakers and caregivers. We should see that there are limits to these, and this is called the ethics of responsibility.” 

Pointing out that the economics of care is accompanied by the politics of care, Joan Tronto said, “Care should be at the center and we should organize the economy around it. This revolution has not been made yet for home workers who have not secured fully democratic participation yet. First, when we say democratic care, how responsibilities are fairly distributed in the society matters a lot. Second, we should re-organize and re-arrange our care responsibilities. Third, we should always reach care solutions through democratic methods. There may be inequalities in any kind of personal care, but equal opportunities and care conditions should be established and provided for both caretakers and caregivers.”

THE CONFERENCE CONTINUED WITH PANELS

On the second day of the conference, the panel entitled “Feminist Action an Resistance”, moderated by Fatmagül Berktay from Istanbu University, hosted Fulden İbrahimhakkıoğlu (Middle East Technical University), Mona Lilja (University of Gothenburg) and Neha Kagal (ActionAid UK) as speakers. 

The panel entitled “Power, Policy and Advocacy”, moderated by Serpil Sancar, was attended by Simten Coşar (University of Pittsburgh), Berfu Şeker (New Solutions Society) and İlknur Üstün (Women’s Coalition). 

The panel entitled “Feminist Care Ethics, Practices and the Politics of Care” was moderated by Yeşim Arat from Boğaziçi University. The panelists were Özge İzdeş (İstanbul University-Cerrahpaşa), Kanchana Mahadevan (University of Mumbai), Inge Van Nistelrooij (Radboud University Nijmegen) and Aslı İkizoğlu (Sabancı University). 

On the third day of the conference, the panel entitled “Feminist Care for the Future”, moderated by Hülya Şimga from Maltepe University, had Gaia Giuliani (University of Coimbra), Sophie Smith (University of Oxford), Semiha Arı (Inequalities Studies South Center) and Şehnaz Kıymaz (Women's Major Group - WMG) as panelists.   

The panel entitled “Transnational Feminism and Solidarity” was moderated by Ayşe Gül Altınay from Sabancı University. The panel was attended by Sumi Madhok (London School of Economics Coloniality), Selin Çağatay (University of Gothenburg), Ayşe Dursun (University of Vienna) and Jo Littler (City University of London). 

The conference ended with a closing forum co-moderated by Zeynep Gülru Göker, Begüm Acar and Aslı Aygüneş. During the forum, participants had the opportunity to dive deeply into the topics discussed at the conference. 

Sabancı University has joined the TeamAWARE project, funded by the European Union in the scope of 8^th Framework Program Horizon 2020. Involving 24 institutions from 13 countries, the project has a total budget of 6.9 million Euros.

Sabancı University will take part in the project through Selim Balcısoy, member of the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences. Selim Balcısoy will support emergency response teams with augmented reality and visualization of big data about the data to be collected from different sensors and data providing systems in emergency cases. The project, developed by HAVELSAN and involving 24 institutions from 13 countries, has Sabancı University in addition to SRDC Yazılım Araştırma Geliştirme Ve Danışmanlık Ticaret Anonim Şirketi, Bursa Metropolitan Municipality and the Association of Emergency Ambulance Physicians, as participants from Turkey.

The TeamAWARE project enhances the safety of emergency response teams and others by developing the situational awareness of emergency response teams through artificial intelligence, augmented reality, 5G and sensor fusion technologies, and providing a decision support system for urgent cases. In other words, the project will enable emergency response teams to be informed immediately about everything in an emergency, to make plans and decisions quickly with the help of the current technologies.

TeamAWARE had a great achievement by obtaining 15 points and being selected as the initial project proposal worthy of support from among 92 project proposals. Featuring artificial intelligence, augmented reality, sensor fusion technologies and 5G technologies, the project is expected to be completed in 36 months.

“Innovation and Technological Competitiveness” has been discussed during online events of the TÜSİAD – Sabancı University Competitiveness Forum (REF).

The online meeting held on Friday, April 30, 2021 was attended by Fatih Kemal Ebiçlioğlu, TÜSİAD Board Member and Industrial Policies Roundtable Chair, Esra Durceylan Kaygusuz, Director of TÜSİAD-Sabancı University Competitiveness Forum and member of Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, and Ufuk Akçiğit, member of faculty at the Economics Department of Chicago University.

During his opening speech, Fatih Kemal Ebiçlioğlu stated that the World Economic Forum attached growing importance to technological competitiveness and innovation in the light of the Global Competitiveness Index. He added, “Among the fundamental components of the index, technology and innovation have become top priorities of companies of any scale in nearly all sectors, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic. That’s the reason why we are focusing on technological competitiveness and innovation in the first online event of REF, which works to enable our country’s private sector to increase its share in international markets in a stable and sustainable way and to strengthen its competitiveness.”

After the opening speech, Esra Durceylan Kaygusuz, Director of REF, which acts as the Turkish partner of the World Economic Forum for the preparation of the annual Global Competitiveness Index, provided information to the participants about the “Executive Opinion Survey”, which provides some of the inputs to the index, and this year’s Global Competitiveness Report.

During the first online event of REF, the questions in the “Executive Opinion Survey” about innovation and technological competitiveness were further elaborated on with the assessments of the participants. Professor Ufuk Akçiğit from Chicago University moderated the session on “The Executive Opinion Survey and Assessments” in which the assessments were received in real time and online.

You can watch a video recording of the event by clicking the link below.

World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report 2020 (English)

“World Economic Forum – Global Competitiveness Report 2020 – A General Assessment” prepared by REF (Turkish): 

The project implemented by Eralp Demir, member of Sabancı University Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, is entitled to support within the framework of the TÜBİTAK 2247-B European Research Council (ERC) Projects Support Program.

Eralp Demir’s project is entitled “Prototype Development for Powder-Based Layered Manufacturing”. The project aims to develop a manufacturing platform with a prototype add-on for use in innovative process monitoring systems research.

The project will last two years and, in addition to acting as project coordinator, Eralp Demir will work on project tasks such as determining the general operating principles of the system and microstructure analysis of materials produced.

Talking about the importance and details of the project, Demir said, “The additive manufacturing system, which is the output of this project, will be developed to monitor manufacturing processes in a laboratory environment. This will enable us to complete the necessary preliminary work to be eligible to ERC project applications.”

The aim of the TÜBİTAK'ın 2247-B ERC program is to provide support for researchers in order to improve/strengthen their projects which have the potential to make significant discoveries and/or inventions and be able to receive support from the European Research Council (ERC) to increase the rate of return to our country from European Union funds.

Meltem Bayrak, graduate of Sabancı University Molecular Biology, Genetics and Bioengineering major program and Chemistry minor program in 2016, has become the first Turkish scientist selected to the Homeward Bound Leadership Program. Homeward Bound is a transformational leadership initiative for women with a background in STEMM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics, medicine), from around the world.

Continuing her PhD project in the field of food science at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization in Australia, Meltem Bayrak is among the 100 scientists selected to Homeward Bound, a global leadership program designed for women scientists and focusing on climate change.

Thinking that environmentally aware production has a vital role since the food sector is one of the business areas that are the most affected by global climate change, Meltem Bayrak believes the Homeward Bound program will make great contributions to the development of innovative approaches to food safety and sustainability. 

We talked to Meltem Bayrak about what she did during her undergraduate studies, her work after graduation, and the Homeward Bound program. You can read our interview below.

First of all, we congratulate you. Can you introduce yourself a little bit? When and how did you decide to study at Sabancı University Molecular Biology, Genetics and Bioengineering program? What are you doing these days?

M.B: I was pretty sure about the discipline I wanted to study at university. However, I also wanted to learn about many other fields. What facilitated my choice for Sabancı University was the availability of an interdisciplinary approach to teaching and research, laboratory infrastructure and academic staff, all being prerequisites for a good quality bioengineering education. After I finished Saint Benoît French High School, I graduated from Sabancı University Molecular Biology, Genetics and Bioengineering program (with a minor in Chemistry) in 2016.

Afterwards, I completed my master’s degree in food science in Melbourne. Currently, I continue to work for a PhD in food science at Melbourne CSIRO.

“The experiences I had during my undergraduate studies encouraged me further to follow the path I chose”

Were there any decisions/people that influenced you and your career steps during your undergraduate studies?

M.B: I had a very productive life at the university in terms of academic courses and club activities. There were very valuable faculty members who I took courses from or who I intersected with. Among faculty members, particularly Prof. Uğur Sezerman put a lot of effort into my starting laboratory research and learning coding. Finding myself in a laboratory even before laboratory courses began motivated me to a great extent and made it easier for me to follow courses.

Participating in diverse study environments, and therefore learning about different scientific approaches, helped me a lot with my career after graduation. I continued to enjoy research for nearly one year and a half in Sweden and France, where I was in the scope of the Erasmus program. My Erasmus adventure lasted longer than that of other students and I had the opportunity to learn enjoyable courses in biology. Other than this, when I was in France for the Erasmus program, I worked for a plant laboratory, which was out of the scope of my courses. My graduation project focused on plant genetics. At the same time, I had the chance to do an internship at the molecular pathology lab of INSERM, the national medical research institute of France. My internship supervisor Assistant Professor Umut Şahin supported me for my applications to PhD programs and was influential for me with his academic guidance. All these experiences that I had during my undergraduate studies encouraged me further to follow the path I chose.

In addition, I would like to name Professor Neşe Bilgin, who I deeply respect for her work and opinions about the protection of Turkey’s biodiversity, as an academic who impacted my career steps thanks to her guidance.

Can you briefly talk about what you did after you graduated from Sabancı University?

M.B: After Sabancı University, I completed my master’s degree in food science at the University of Melbourne.

In my project, I did studies about the capacity of sourdough yeast lactic acid bacteria to hydrolyze toxic gluten peptides. At the same time, during a visit to Istanbul, I had an internship at Pakmaya, Turkey’s first yeast factory, to see the production of yeast and its place in industry from a broader perspective. However, since I felt I did not have enough research, I applied for a PhD program and I was accepted with a scholarship to a project of Australia’s CSIRO with RMIT University and INRAE (France).  

When did you decide to continue to study in the field of food science, and what are your current projects?

M.B: While I was studying the genetics of Hasandede, a local grape species, as part of my undergraduate graduation project at Sabancı, I realized that I had a strong interest in food research. Especially the research on the protection of genetic diversity and sustainability guided me a lot. To me, doing an experiment at a laboratory is like cooking in your kitchen. I get a lot of pleasure out of trying different recipes and reaching the best outcome. With this in mind, I did some research about what was done in the world in the field of food science and I came to Australia to study food science. In my PhD dissertation, I am studying the impact of digestion on the structure of food for the purpose of personalized nutrition. Moreover, I have received an additional scholarship from the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization (ANSTO) and examine the structure of food through neutrons as the major part of my project.

You are among the 100 scientists selected to the Homeward Bound STEMM leadership program. Can you talk about the program and its objectives?

M.B: Homeward Bound is a transformational leadership initiative for women with a background in STEMM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics, medicine), from around the world. The objective of the program is to enhance the impact of women in STEMM areas in decisions and policies shaping the future of the world. Homeward Bound aims to ensure global cooperation among influential women in STEMM to secure diversity at the leadership table. I am one of the 100 women selected for this 12-monthly global leadership initiative. Additionally, I am proud to say that I am the first Turkish woman selected to the program. Although the eligibility criteria of the program are not set clearly, the panel aims to select women from all ages and backgrounds with a capacity to become a leader influencing policies and decisions on a global scale. Applications are first assessed by an independent panel of scientists, psychologists, leadership coaches, strategists and scholars, and then by the Homeward Bound leadership team.

I was already interested in the program and had observed the positive impact of their projects on the decisions taken about our future. I applied for the program thinking that I could contribute to the program and vice versa.

“I believe that the Homeward Bound program will contribute to me greatly to develop innovative approaches to food safety and sustainability both as an individual and a woman leader in STEMM”

Can you talk about the importance for you of being a part of this program and your projects in the framework of the program and thereafter?

M.B: Besides being a food scientist, I am a food sustainability and safety advocate. I think research on environmentally aware production has a vital role since the food sector is one of the business areas that are the most affected by global climate change. The world needs a holistic approach, an enhanced infrastructure and new government policies to support innovation and innovative technologies, to inform consumers so that they can make choices consciously, and to have improved resource management. In this context, I believe that the Homeward Bound program will contribute to me greatly to develop innovative approaches to food safety and sustainability both as an individual and a woman leader in STEMM.

Last but not least, what are your recommendations for current and prospective students in the Molecular Biology, Genetics and Bioengineering program?

M.B: I recommend that from their first year they talk to their faculty members and do an extra-curricular project about a subject which is of interest to them. The earlier they start, the better. It is very important to fully make use of what the University has to offer. In addition, science is getting more and more interdisciplinary. Therefore, I recommend they take courses from different disciplines, which may offer them opportunities in the future.

Is there anything you want to add?

M.B: Most of us know that climate change brings along with it the problem of food safety and that our access to food will be affected. In the current situation where our fundamental food resources are shrinking, every step of food production is affected by climate change. To diminish systemic problems, it is the responsibility of all of us to consider the damage that our decisions do to nature. Sustainability and protection of biodiversity will be shaped in line with our preferences, as consumers. I recommend that students use the social and scientific means available to them at Sabancı University in the most efficient way.