Üsküdar Üniversitesi R&D Innovation Policies Directorate and the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences hosted Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mehmet Şenel, a researcher from the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of California, Irvine, as the guest of the event titled “Development of Innovative Materials and Biosensors for Biomedical Applications”. Şenel emphasized that interdisciplinary interactions form the basis of these studies and provided insights into the biomedical field.
The program, which was held via Zoom, was moderated by Prof. Dr. Sevim Işık, Vice Head of the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics at Üsküdar Üniversitesi.
“Interdisciplinary Interaction at the Core of the Studies”
Şenel, touching upon the use of materials in biomedical applications, stated; “Functional materials can be defined as materials that have acquired a specific activity. We prepare and shape these materials in various fundamental fields to be used in biomedical applications. These are fundamentally chemistry, biology, and specific engineering fields. The convergence of these fields allowed me to conduct various studies on drug delivery systems, regenerative medicine, and biosensors. We shaped these studies within the framework of collaborations. Interdisciplinary interactions are at their core.”
“Pandemic Led to Greater Importance Being Given to the Healthcare Sector”
Şenel, commenting on regenerative medicine, said; “Regenerative medicine encompasses a broad field of study, which we can call three different sub-disciplines: stem cell therapy, biomaterials, and tissue engineering. At their intersection, various products emerge for this field, which we call regenerative medicine. These products are particularly essential materials that humanity will need in the medical sector in today’s world. Technologies and treatment areas advance with the collaboration of these research branches or with independently developed technologies. Especially the recent pandemic period has led to the rise of health sciences and prompted people to give even more importance to the healthcare sector. Of course, it was important before, but its popularity increased significantly.”
“Biosensors Have a Very Wide Range of Applications”
Şenel, pointing out that biosensors have a very wide range of applications, stated; “Biosensors are a very valuable subject for many fields. It is not limited to the medical field alone. We can say this for studies conducted on humans, the environment, food, and in laboratory settings. They are used in many areas such as measurements in humans, monitoring experiments in the laboratory, and monitoring production in factories, thus their application area is very wide.”