After graduating from secondary school, I went to Istanbul Ataturk Science High School (1993-1996). I double-majored in Molecular Biology & Genetics and Chemistry at the Bogazici University, Istanbul, and graduated honour degree with Distinction and the Departmental Citation. I received my Ph.D. in biochemistry working with Glen Legge on the two major projects. Functional and structural characterisation of Pactolus I-domain and spectroscopic characterisation of the Tissue Factor Cytoplasmic Domain. During my doctorate training, Protein and nucleic acid nuclear magnetic resonance, fluorescence, circular dichorism and surface plasmon resonance were my primary techniques. 

Realizing the power of protein x-ray crystallography and electron microscopy for the characterization of cell adhesion receptors on the cell surface, I decided to move postdoctoral position in Tim Springer lab. A major focus of my current work is defining how allostery is relayed from the a-subunit to b-subunit in leukocyte integrins. With Tim and Koichi, I have demonstrated that a7-helix of the aI domain loses much of its helicity and allow the part of the C-terminal region (called internal ligand) to cross-talk with the b2 I-domain.