Prof. Nevzat Tarhan: “Covid-19 paved the way for Bioengineering”
Participated as spokesperson in the 9th Bioengineering Days online symposium organized by Üsküdar University this year, President of Üsküdar University, Psychiatrist Prof. Nevzat Tarhan said that Covid-19 severely taught the importance of bioengineers and paved the way for bioengineering, molecular biology and genetics. In his speech, Tarhan highlighted the importance of findings in studies on brain chemistry and noted that universities should do what Elon Musk did. Stating that it is necessary to invest in designs, not stone and soil, Tarhan emphasized the importance of investing in R&D in order to be the subject of science, not the object of it. Academicians from Türkiye's important universities also shared their presentations with the participants at the symposium.
Üsküdar University Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences Bioengineering Department and Bioengineering Club organized an online symposium titled '9th Bioengineering Days'. The 9th Bioengineering Days Symposium, which was held online due to the pandemic conditions, brought together students studying in this field and experts within the field. The program was hosted by Bioengineering Club President Mehmet Akyıldız and Club Vice President Şeyma Türkan Koyun, who are third year students of the Bioengineering Department. The opening speeches of the program, which took place in two sessions, were made by President of Üsküdar University, Psychiatrist Prof. Nevzat Tarhan and Head of Bioengineering Department Dr. Tuba Sevimoğlu performed it.
Prof. Nevzat Tarhan: “Bioengineering also has a pillar of neuroscience”
Noting that chemical bioengineering is especially important in medication production and various researches, Prof. Nevzat Tarhan said: “Bioengineering also has a neuroscience pillar. In 2018 at Davos, the importance of neural network took off all over the world. The bioinformatics pillar of bioengineering and its use in conjunction with neurotechnology have opened a new field to bioengineering. At that time, of course, chemists were dominant in bioengineering. We attached importance to include some lessons regarding this and to consider it through research. Currently, it is not right to reduce bioengineering to medicine with the developments in science. At the same time, it is necessary to highlight the neuroscience aspect of bioengineering.”
Prof. Nevzat Tarhan: “Bioengineering should also be in touch with the quantum”
Prof. Nevzat Tarhan said that the brain system in humans works in three ways and continued as follows:
“The brain generates electrical signals and works with chemical triggering. In these current studies, information flows as energy flows. There is electrical flow, chemical flow and simultaneous information flow. These are formed in the brain. In studies of the brain, bioengineering should now also be in touch with the quantum. When examining how the brain decides, it is seen in electrophysiological measurements that a P300 wave emerges 300 milliseconds after making a decision about an action. Then, it is not the brain that decides. There is a quantum brain above the brain, and we call this consciousness in new consciousness studies. Above the brain is a quantum brain connected to the universal energy. It also influences decision making. After making a decision, the electrical potential in the brain appears. After that, when the electrical potential continues, it undergoes a chemical transformation. and it becomes permanent when it undergoes chemical transformation, knowledge.”
Prof. Nevzat Tarhan: “We must invest in R&D in order to be the subject of science”
“If a person repeats it or accepts it with a very strong emotional load, this time it is written to the brain in chemical letters, not electrically, and it becomes permanent. These findings are very important in studies on brain chemistry. Elon Musk performed brain-computer interface studies on experimental animals. He had a monkey play a game. Is this something a businessman actually do? Universities have to do it, however, they have the capital and we have the idea. It is not possible to bring this two things together in Türkiye. America is not like that. When Elon Musk decides on something, he brings together the people who know the job best and establishes a great R&D team. For example, the owner of Amazon invests 80 percent of his earnings in R&D. Unfortunately, it has only increased to 3 percent recently in Türkiye. If you do not invest in R&D, you become the object of science. If we are to be the subject of science, we must invest in R&D. Unfortunately, we are a country that invests in stone and soil. In agricultural societies, investments are made in stone and soil. In information societies, investments are made in designs. Unless we invest in knowledge, we brag about ourselves.”
Prof. Nevzat Tarhan: “Covid-19 taught the importance of bioengineers”
Stating that the Turkish science world does not yet familiraze with bioengineering very well and does not think that realizes importance is realized, Tarhan said, “Covid-19 has taught the importance of bioengineers in a very severe way. Our students in molecular biology and genetics and bioengineering will begin to be employed as soon as they graduate. There were even people who got a job without graduating. Currently, healthcare investments are ranked first in the world. A synthesis of these two will be made in Bioengineering. We are in a digital universe and there is a universal database. Information comes first on the universal databas and it is followed by mathematics, geometric design, energy, physics, chemistry, that is, matter and then biological life. These are connectet to each other like a chain and they are one within the other. There is no such thing as matter, in fact, matter is a concentration of energy.”.
Prof. Nevzat Tarhan: “There will be always sub-disciplines in bioengineering”
Stating that they check drug level on blood with Track monitoring, i.e. LCMS devices at NPİSTANBUL Brain Hospital, Tarhan said: “One of them also measures toxicology, that is, substances. The other measures the drug level on blood for psychiatric drugs. For example, a piece of meat comes and shows which animal it belongs to by looking at the ion charge of its protein. It can show whether a honey is real or fake. It also shows that the drug is suitable according to the ion charge. It gives over 99% accuracy results. All of these fall within the scope of bioengineering. We can say that there are areas related to the common use of brain, chemistry and technology. Those who know these fields will be the engineers of the future now. Some will progress by focusing on chemistry, while others may progress by focusing on neuroscience. People will decide for themselves. There are always sub-disciplines.” said.
Prof. Nevzat Tarhan: “Sciences need multidisciplinary studies”
Emphasizing that biological sciences and engineering sciences should work together in a multidisciplinary manner, Prof. Nevzat Tarhan said, “At the moment, the pluralism and holism of the sciences are at the forefront, not the singularity of the sciences. Eclectic approach is in the foreground. Teamwork of sciences brings out new discoveries. In very developed countries, there are more engineers than doctors. They estimate, they present options, and they do it easier with less errors at work. That's why they need to be implemented, but as a humanity, we had to a dramatic phenomenon like Covid-19 to understand this. The Covid-19 has broken the minds. In their minds, they do not just look at engineering with a materialist perspective, but t has now revealed that all disciplines are together and that all branches of science should work as a team.”.
Prof. Nevzat Tarhan: “Students should definitely do projects”
Stating that innovations should teach the society something, Tarhan said, “We need to rethink, restructure and explore some things. I think Covid-19 paved the way for bioengineering, molecular biology and genetics. It looks like it will pave the way even more. It should be evaluated from this perspective. Our future students should definitely do projects. Institutions such as TUBITAK support student projects. They will gain a lot of knowledge with those projects under the guidance of their instructors. Doing projects during the university undergraduate period makes it possible to look at the future in a different way. Being scientific is being objective. Objectivism is the greatest feature of science. We have to be objective towards everything.”.
One of the spokespersons in the opening speeches, Üsküdar University Bioengineering Department Head Dr. Tuba Sevimoğlu stated that there were also participants from outside the city by participating online and wished the symposium to be productive and successful.
2 sessions were held at the symposium
After the opening speeches, the sessions started. Asst. Prof. Hasan Demirci from Koç University with his presentation titled "Structural Biology", Prof. Tanıl Kocagöz from Acıbadem University with his presentation titled "Laboratory methods used in the diagnosis of COVID-19" and Asst. Prof. Christopher Mayack from Sabancı University with his presentation titled “Systems Biology” have participated in the first session and shared their presentation with the participants.
In the second and last session of the symposium, 6 speakers participated. In the second session, Prof. Metehan Özen from Acıbadem University with his presentation titled "The Miracle of Microbiota", Asst. Prof. Ayça Zeynep İlter from Istinye University with her presentation titled “Cancer Biology”, Assoc. Prof. Emre Yörük Istanbul from Yeni Yüzyıl University with his presentation titled "Plant Pathology", Asst. Prof. Zeynep Büşra Bolat from Sabahattin Zaim University with her presentation titled "Targeted Drug Delivery in Cancer Therapy", the founder and CEO of Omid Afarinan Majid Hajihosseinali with his presentation titled "3D BioPrinting Technology" and Prof. Kayhan Erciyeş from Üsküdar University with his presentation titled “Bioinformatics Algorithms” have participated.
The program ended after the presentations in the second session were completed.
Üsküdar News Agency (ÜNA)