Prof. Gulgun Sengul, MD, Principle Investigator
My primary research interest is spinal cord injury, spinal cord and brainstem anatomy.
I have been collaborating with Professors George Paxinos and Charles Watson since 2008, a productive collaboration that led to the publication of three books and 30 book chapters. Specifically, The Spinal Cord: A Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation Text and Atlas (Watson C, Kayalioglu G, Paxinos G) was published in 2009, Atlas of the Spinal Cord (Sengul G, Watson C, Paxinos G) was published in 2013, and The Mammalian Spinal Cord (Watson C, Sengul G, Paxinos G) was published in 2022 by Academic Press Elsevier.
I also collaborated with the Allen Institute for Brain Science (Seattle, WA) on their gene atlas projects – the Mouse Spinal Cord Atlas, the Developing Human Brain Atlas and the Human Brain Atlas.
I have mapped the atlases of the rat, mouse, marmoset and rhesus monkey and human spinal cords. Being the first monkey and human spinal cord atlases, these have been published in the book ‘Atlas of the Spinal Cord of the Rat, Mouse, Marmoset, Rhesus, and Human’ Sengul et al. (2013; Elsevier Academic Press).
In 2021, I have also signed a contract with Elsevier on a book titled “Human Neuroanatomy” for medical students to be released in 2023.
Prof. Mete Erturk, MD
Dr. Mete Erturk has expertise in human gross anatomy and neuroanatomy.
He has authored many books as section author or Translation board member.
He is now working on the new imaging technique CLARITY in the spinal cord supported by The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye. He is a member of the Turkish Society of Anatomy and Clinical Anatomy (TSACA).
Prof. Burcu Balkan, MD
In 2001, she was awarded (Postdoctoral Research Award, NATA-B1,2001) by TUBITAK and worked as a research scholar in Emory University, Yerkes Regional Primary Center, Division of Neuroscience, Atlanta, USA between 2001-2002.
Research area of Dr. Burcu Balkan covers the regulation of the stress response and the mesocorticolimbic reward system in the brain.
Prof. Taner Dagci, MD
I have been working on spinal cord injuries, pain and stem cells for 20 years.
Up to this time, I have 25 publications under the SCI index and I work as a project manager and researcher in many scientific projects.
I still have various research grant with clinicians and researchers working in basic science.
Associate Prof. Aylin Sendemir
Dr. Aylin Şendemir graduated as a mechanical engineer from Bogazici University, Istanbul, Türkiye (1994); received her M.Sc degree from the Institute of Biomedical Engineering from Bogazici University (1997), and her Ph.D degree in Materials Science and Engineering from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA.
She is an Associate Professor at Ege University Bioengineering Department, and is currently the principal investigator of Ege Research Group of Biomaterials and 3D Biointerphases (EBioPhase).
Her research interests include interactions of animal cells with biomaterials, tissue engineering, mechano-transduction, stem cells and biocompatibility testing. She is particularly interested in design and production of in vitro tissue engineered 3D personalized disease models for pharmaceutical screening and minimizing animal testing.
Dr. Aylin Şendemir is among the founding members of Turkish Biodesign Team (TBT). She has co-authored more than 30 scientific papers, 3 patents and 7 book chapters.
Associate Prof. Aysegul Keser, MD
She worked as a research fellow in Modena University Department of Physiology in 2007 and 2008 with Professor Michele Zoli.
Dr. Aysegul Keser has interest in the spinal cord injury, embryonic neural stem cells, stress, and cocain amfetamin related transpeptide relationship, adult neurogenesis, neurotransmission and neuromodulation and sex differences in brain and behavior.
Prof. Ilker Sengul, MD
Ilker Sengul received his medical degree from the Medical School of Çukurova University. He received degree from the Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation at İzmir Atatürk Education and Training Hospital.
He also has a Ph.D. degree from the Department of Neuroscience in the Institute of Health Sciences of Ege University.
His doctorate thesis entitled “Neurochemical Characteristics of the Alpha, Beta, and Gamma Motor Neurons of the Human Spinal Cord” was supervised by Professor Gulgun Sengul.
His main research areas are involuntary muscle overactivity related to brain injury and the neurobiology of spinal somatic motor neurons.
Eylem Didem Gulsen Kirbiyik, MD, Ph.D Candidate
Eylem Didem Gulsen Kirbiyik received her medical degree from the Medical Faculty of Çukurova University.
She was trained in physical medicine and rehabilitation at Ankara Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Education and Training Hospital.
In 2018, she started her Ph.D. at the Department of Neuroscience in Institute of Health Sciences of Ege University. She still works as a specialist doctor in the Ministry of Health and continues her neuroscience doctoral thesis under the supervision of Prof. Gulgun Sengul.
Esra Candar, Ph.D. Candidate
Esra Candar is a bioengineer (BSc), neuroscientist (MSc), neuroscience Ph.D. candidate in translational medicine, and also a web designer and coder (AAS), and photographer and camera operator (AA).
Her master’s thesis was “Investigation of the Cyto- and Chemoarchitecture of the Central Cervical Nucleus” under the supervision of Professor Gulgun Sengul.
She conducts her Ph.D. thesis in the “Translational Medicine” field, one of the national priority areas of the 100/2000 Council of Higher Education (CoHE) Ph.D. Scholarship Program.
Esra Candar is interested in spinal cord injury, history of neuroscience, neurohistology, and neuroanatomy of the spinal cord, brainstem, and cerebellum.
Ibrahim Demircubuk, Ph.D. Candidate
I obtained a B.Sc. in Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation from SANKO University in 2020 and an M.Sc. in Anatomy from Ege University in 2022. I conducted research for my Master’s degree in Anatomy on the histology and neurochemical organizations of the human dorsal, lumbar precerebellar, and sacral precerebellar nuclei.
Since October 2022, I am a Ph.D. student at Sengul Lab. Currently, I am interested in neuroanatomy, the neurochemical organization of the central nervous system, and the history of neuroscience.
Sengullab 