RaDiChal’22 champions received their achievement certificates
The achievement certificates were presented to the RaDiChal'22 Champion ALTHEA team by President of Üsküdar University Prof. Nevzat Tarhan. The project team were awarded with the best poster, the best Wu Syndrome gene therapy, the best gene therapy training and the RaDiChal'22 championship awards in the RaDiChal'22 final. The project team met with President of Üsküdar University Prof. Nevzat Tarhan and Rector Prof. Nazife Güngör at Üsküdar University Main Campus.
Prof. Nevzat Tarhan; “This is an indication that Türkiye has caught up with the era.”
President of Üsküdar University Prof. Nevzat Tarhan congratulated the successful students. Expressing that a gene therapy related to the treatment of schizophrenia may emerge while working on gene therapy, Prof. Nevzat Tarhan stated that “NMDI passes the evaluations. We made a case and it was published there. It is also referred to as Limbic encephalitis, NMDI encephalitis in the brain just occurs in that area, and a similar image to schizophrenia emerges in the brain. If it was treated late, that area of the brain would deteriorate and there would be a loss case. Since schizophrenia is a multi-genetic and multi-factorial disease, you can find something to do with schizophrenia when dealing with it. It will be very interesting. A gene therapy for the treatment of schizophrenia may emerge as we deal with its treatment. It is a very promising work that could be a pioneer. Young people are lucky, in our time it was said 'don't bother with these, study your lesson', now it is said 'participate in projects'. This is an indication that Türkiye has caught up with the era.”.
Prof. Nazife Güngör: “The excitement of science is a wonderful thing”
Üsküdar University Rector Prof. Nazife Güngör stated that the excitement of science should be preserved and that there should be unity and solidarity. Prof. Nazife Güngör said that “This excitement for science is amazing. Congratulations! We are very lucky. The science potential of this university has been recognized. You are on your way with a very lucky team. Keep going with this enthusiasm. Another thing that impresses me is that there are students from other universities among us. If we put all our minds and science together, something will come out of it.".
Asst. Prof. Cihan Tastan: “This is the success of a collaboration.”
Molecular Biology and Genetics Department Asst. Prof. Cihan Taştan talked about the successes achieved in the RaDiChal competition. Dr. Cihan Tastan said that “RaDiChal competition, which is held for the fourth time this year, is a team of both Turkish - German University students and Üsküdar University students. Wu Syndrome, one of the rarest diseases in the world, has only one article about this disease and such a disease has been identified as one of the target diseases of RaDiChal 2021. In total, nearly twenty university teams participated and our team, which was established in cooperation with Üsküdar University and Turkish – German University, got the highest score from a completely independent jury with its project and became champion.”.
Students who achieved great success presented their presentations they prepared within the scope of RaDiChal (Rare Disease Challenge) global rare diseases genetic therapy project competition in the senate meeting room. In the final of RaDiChal'22, they received the best poster, best Wu Syndrome gene therapy, best gene therapy training and RaDiChal'22 championship awards. Together with Dr. Cihan Taştan and his team, the project team started working in TRGENMER Laboratories to turn their projects into products. Team members Tuba Şevik and Selin Akdemir are continuing their education in the Molecular Biology and Genetics department of Üsküdar University as their second year, while team members Burak Bilgin, Dilay Yalçın and Esra Karadeli are continuing their education as second year students in Turkish - German University Molecular Biotechnology Department.
The students, who were appreciated within the scope of their projects, were honored by the President of Üsküdar University Prof. Nevzat Tarhan and Rector Prof. Nazife Güngör. They were presented with flowers and a plaque. Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan presented a certificate of achievement and bestowed his book "Being a Conscious Young" to the students.
Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences Prof. Osman Çerezci also participated in the program and the event ended with a group photo shoot.
About Althea
ALTHEA team members consist of Üsküdar University and Turkish-German University students. Team members Tuba ŞEVİK and Selin AKDEMİR are continuing their education at Üsküdar University as 2nd year students in Molecular Biology and Genetics. The ALTHEA team started their work as part of the RaDiChal (Rare Disease Challenge) global rare diseases genetic therapy project competition last May, while they were still freshman undergraduate students. In the final of RaDiChal'22 held on October 15, 2022, they received the best poster, the best Wu Syndrome gene therapy, the best gene therapy training and the RaDiChal'22 championship awards. Together with Dr. Cihan Taştan and his team, they started working in TRGENMER Laboratories to turn their projects into products.
Genetic Therapy Project
As the ALTHEA team, we aimed to include all individuals suffering from the disease within the scope of the genetic therapy project idea for Wu syndrome (X-linked Wu type Intellectual Disability), which we started when we were still undergraduate students. With our CRISPR-Associated Transposase-based genetic therapy project, we will be able to contribute to the scientific literature by making the first studies on Wu Syndrome. The CRISPR-associated Transposase technology used can be used not only in the treatment of Wu Syndrome, but also in the treatment of other neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, ALS. In addition to Neurodegenerative diseases, the CAST system is also used in muscle diseases such as DMD (Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy) and CAR T-cell therapies for cancer. As a team, our first goal is to carry out these important works on behalf of our country in Türkiye. We are also in contact with professors from the University of Adelaide, Australia and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to support our project. We are already very excited about our project. We are dreaming of starting our experiments as soon as possible and sharing the results that will be heard in the scientific community. In this process, we would like to thank Dr. Cihan Taştan for the thought that "value and ethics should be at the forefront in science" and for his numerous supports, which he shared with us in the trainings he prepared with his effort and taught us in the meetings we held.
Üsküdar News Agency (ÜNA)