©
Erdinc Sezgin
Yeliz Yilmaz from the Nese Atabey Lab at iBG-Izmir was funded by European Association for Cancer Research (EACR) to visit the MRC WIMM for two months. During this period, she joined the Eggeling lab at MRC HIU (Radcliffe Department of Medicine) to access the Institute’s excellent microcopy facilities. Yeliz is examining the molecular organization of proteins on hepatocellular carcinoma cells, in order to better understand the metabolism of cancerous cells. This is the second time researchers from the iBG-Izmir have visited the MRC WIMM, following a productive collaboration that started with the establishment of a now annual UK-Turkey Cellular Imaging Workshop funded by Newton-Katip Celebi Fund and ICGEB.
Yeliz Yilmaz received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the department of Molecular Biology and Genetics in Bogazici University and moved to iBG-izmir for her PhD to study the molecular mechanisms of obesity-related factors affecting liver cancer initiation and progression. She says “It is absolutely thrilling to have found this opportunity to work with experts in the field of imaging and biophysics to answer crucial questions in cancer. I am thankful to both institutes and the EACR.” Yeliz strongly encourages others to apply for this kind of short-term fellowships, as a unique opportunity for international collaborations. Dr. Erdinc Sezgin, a postdoc in the Eggeling lab and the MRC WIMM researcher leading the collaborations says “We are delighted to host Yeliz in our laboratory as this is a perfect opportunity to not only share our microscopy skills and expertise, but learn about work taking place in Turkey in closely allied fields. I believe that knowledge transfer and collaboration are critical to accelerating research progress and we look forward to forging even stronger links with scientific institutes in Turkey in future.”