Dr. Taştan: "Gezeravcı has become a very good biologist before becoming an astronaut"

Alper Gezeravcı will carry out 13 different scientific experiments, including the "Message" science mission carried out by Asst. Prof. Cihan Taştan and his team Gamze Gülden, Berranur Sert, Büşra Tekirdağlı, Berranur Sert, Ebru Çam, Özge Demir, and Fatmanur Erkek on the International Space Station for 14 days.

Üsküdar University Transgenic Cell Technologies Application and Research Center (TRGENMER) Director Asst. Prof. Cihan Taştan said that "We are very excited, and we were children who had grown up with science fiction movies since childhood. Especially when a shuttle went into space, and we always watched other countries applaud. Now, our own astronaut is taking national scientific missions by Turkish scientists from Türkiye into space for the first time." Taştan added that Alper Gezeravcı, a fighter pilot, has become a very good biologist before becoming an astronaut to carry out such a study.

Asst. Prof. Cihan Taştan: "Our project will actually not be completed within 14 days in space but will have started."

Üsküdar University Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics faculty member, Transgenic Cell Technologies Application and Research Center (TRGENMER) Director Asst. Prof. Cihan Taştan informed on the space travel and study to be carried out by the first Turkish astronaut Alper Gezeravcı.

National scientific missions produced by Turkish scientists from Türkiye in space

"As one of these space missions, we are among the scientists who have been developing cancer treatments at Üsküdar University and have been working for years. In this context, it has not been discovered so far how the genetic expression of astronauts can change in a zero-gravity environment, especially during long space travels such as establishing a colony on space, Mars, colonizing on the Moon, and such a study will be carried out for the first time in the world, which will shed light on cancer treatments, which we call both Genetic Engineering and cancer immunotherapy."

Alper Gezeravcı was a very good biologist before becoming an astronaut

Noting that Alper Gezeravcı, a fighter pilot, has become a very good biologist before becoming an astronaut to carry out such a study, TRGENMER Director Asst. Prof. Cihan Taştan expressed that “He visited both our university and many universities and institutions within the scope of 13 science missions. We held many meetings around the world for about 12 months. We evaluated these meetings with experts at NASA and AXIOM and received all approvals regarding our experiment, and Alper Gezeravcı was able to simulate these experiments in our laboratories."

We are with him with our souls, our minds, and our prayers

Stating that they will follow the genetic profile of both Alper Gezeravcı and the other astronauts he went with during these 14 days, TRGENMER Director Asst. Prof. Cihan Taştan stated that "With these genetic analyzes, we want to find the genes that have not been discovered so far, which will be activated in a zero-gravity environment for the selection of the right astronauts in the space missions of the future, and to bring this to the space and scientific world literature. Of course, this will perhaps pave the way for scientific discoveries in space tourism in the future, which may lead to the treatment of cancer patients in space. We also want to add value to both Türkiye's space mission and the world's space mission, and in this context, almost every step Alper Gezeravcı takes, every experiment he will do, every breath he will take, for 14 days, all of them were planned and processed step by step. Therefore, we are with him with our souls, we are with him with our minds, we are with him with our prayers."

Taştan: "We will do our genetic screenings in the coming months."

Giving information about their mission, TRGENMER Director Asst. Prof. Cihan Taştan concluded his remarks as follows:

"In fact, our 'massage' mission has already begun. With Alper Gezeravcı entering quarantine, we started to collect samples from which we would take genetic profiles with our astronauts. Our project will be started, but not completed within the 14-day period that will take place in space. Following this, we will do our genetic screenings in the coming months.

By using genetic engineering techniques such as CRISPIR, which have won Nobel Prizes in recent years, we will again change the genetics of the immune system cells of our astronauts and other people, and this time we will make these genes we discovered in space fight against cancer. In the space missions of the future, we plan to test these cells and these cancer screenings in space again and to bring new treatment methods to the world literature."

Üsküdar News Agency (ÜNA)