Urartu Özgür Şafak Şeker

RESEARCH SUMMARY

Our research focuses on engineering biological systems to develop next-generation technologies for therapeutics, diagnostics, and biomanufacturing. We combine synthetic biology, molecular and cellular engineering, protein engineering, and AI-assisted biomolecular design to create programmable biological systems with tailored functions. A major research direction is the development of engineered microbial and mammalian cells for therapeutic applications, including living therapeutics, recombinant and bispecific antibodies, mRNA therapeutics, and advanced protein production platforms. We engineer genetic circuits, secretion systems, biosensors, and genome-editing technologies to enable precise sensing, control, and delivery of biological functions. Our research also develops scalable expression and host-cell engineering platforms across bacterial, yeast, and mammalian systems, supported by combinatorial genetic-part libraries and high-throughput screening. By integrating computational design with experimental synthetic biology, we aim to establish versatile biofactory platforms that accelerate the translation of engineered biological systems from fundamental research toward biotechnology, biopharmaceutical, diagnostic, and precision-medicine applications.