Esma ULUSOY, Ph.D

Esma Ulusoy was born in Burdur, Türkiye. She graduated from Marmara University, Department of Biology Education (English) and started her teaching career. She completed her MSc in Animal Histology at 19 Mayıs University, Department of Biology in 2005. In 2019, she received her PhD at Yıldız Technical University with her thesis titled "Uptake and Distribution of Fluorescently Labeled Poly (Lactic-co-glycolic) Acid Nanoparticles in Suspension Cultures of Alfalfa (Medicago sativa)".

She has received awards for her work in various scientific and social projects: 2008 - Erguvan Environment Awards Finalist: For a project investigating the hyperaccumulation effect of Kale (Brassica oleracea) on lead pollution. 2009 - TÜBİTAK 2204 Project Competition Finalist: For a project investigating the effects of calcium and iron enriched compost fertilizers on the yield and quality of wheat (Triticum vulgare). 2018 - Best Practices in Education Award: Awarded by the Istanbul Provincial Directorate of National Education for the project "Independent Living is a Choice," which aims to raise awareness about addiction. 2021 - Honorable Mention at the Science and Idea Festival: Awarded in the health sciences category by Üsküdar University and the Istanbul Provincial Directorate of National Education for his project examining the effects of long-term tobacco use on the DRD2 gene polymorphism.

In 2024, he received a Short-Term Scientific Mission (STSM) postdoctoral research fellowship as part of the European Union COST-ACTION RECROP project. He conducted a three-month study under the supervision of the Department of Clinical, Pharmaceutical and Biological Sciences at the University of Hertfordshire in the UK. His

project was titled "Decoding Heat Stress Responses and Nutritional Changes in Barley Seed Development Using Next-Generation Sequencing and Spectroscopy."

In 2025, she joined the Kidner Laboratory team at the Institute of Molecular Plant Sciences, University of Edinburgh, as a postdoctoral researcher and worked on the development of endangered Begonia species in tissue culture, transformation, and the design of CRISPR-Cas constructs.

Her research interests include plant biotechnology, transcriptomics, nanobiotechnology, secondary metabolites, tissue culture, cell culture, histology, and the relationship between addiction and epigenetics. She has published international articles (SCI/SCI-E/ESCI) and conference proceedings in these areas and continues her scientific research in these areas.

She is married and has two children.