Zeynep Ilgın Kılıç

EDUCATION

College / University

Middle East Technical University (METU)
University of Alberta (exchange student for the Fall term of 2021)

Highest Degree

Bachelor of Science

Major Subjects

Molecular Biology and Genetics

Country

Turkey

Lab Experience

Experienced in bacterial culture (especially E. coli), DNA and RNA isolation, PCR, restriction digest and ligation, plasmid isolation, bacterial transformation, λ phage infection of E. coli, plaque lifting followed by hybridization for detection, and DNA sequencing (both Sanger and Illumina Next Generation).
Also, experienced in fluorescent protein tagging, protein overexpression, co-immunoprecipitation, protein extraction, fractionation of nuclear and whole cell extracts, SDS-PAGE, and Western Blotting. As well, experienced in mammalian cell culture.
Furthermore, observed culturing of patient derived organoids derived from colorectal cancer.

Projects / Research

2022: Senior project: "Optimization of FRET pairs for the study of membrane proteins" under the supervision of Assoc. Prof Çağdaş Devrim Son, in Middle East Technical University
2021: Remote internship in the Laboratory of Tumor Immunology and Microenvironment under the supervision of Dr Serkan Göktuna in Bilkent University
2020 – 2021: Member of the Epigenetics and Stem Cell Laboratory under the supervision of Assist. Prof Nihal Terzi Çizmecioğlu, in Middle East Technical University
2019: Internship at ATQ Biotechnology Tissue Typing Laboratory in Turkey, where a donor database has been generated by HLA typing for patients waiting for hematopoietic stem cell donation

Scholarships / Awards

2022 – 2023:	Stipend by the International Max Planck Research School
2022:	Graduated as a High Honor Student and ranked 3^rd among the graduates of 2022 from the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics in METU
2022:	Received funding from the AdımODTÜ foundation for the senior project: "Optimization of FRET pairs for the study of membrane proteins"

SCIENTIFIC INTERESTS AND GOALS

My current research interests lie in intercellular signaling mediated by exosomes and how it affects intracellular processes in the recipient cell, especially in cancer development. I am also interested in noncoding RNA as a cargo carried within exosomes and as a mediator of intracellular signaling. Furthermore, I would like to investigate the effects of exosomes and their content on cancer metastasis. My other research interests include epigenetics on cancer progression, as well as immunology and how cancer exploits the immune system in its favor. Apart from these specific interests, I set myself a goal to broaden my understanding of molecular biology in different disciplines, including structural biology, gene expression, and biochemistry. I believe my knowledge in different disciplines would allow me to look at a scientific question to be investigated from different aspects and evaluate it thoroughly.