Elif Bayraktar, a Suna Kıraç Scholar, has graduated from Istanbul Technical University, Molecular Biology and Genetics Department, her graduation project was designing and cloning shRNA constructs to knock-down NFI family genes. She was accepted to Koç University Neuroscience joint PhD program in 2019. Her PhD studies focus on understanding the molecular basis of ALS in Turkey and investigating alsin protein-mediated motor neuron degeneration in patient-derived iPSC-based motor neurons. Funded by Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation and partnered by NIH, Elif has been trained at the NIH’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) where she will spend parts of her future studies. She is currently integrating the cutting-edge iPSC-based disease modelling technique that she learned at NIH to NDAL laboratory, for further research on rare neurologic diseases. Elif likes painting and baking for loved ones in her free time.
Selected Publications
- Vural et al., 2021, Movement Disorders. PMID: 33624863.
- Tunca et al., 2020, Human Mutation. PMID: 32579787.
