Dr. İrem Durmaz Şahin received her undergraduate degree from İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics in 2009. She completed her master’s (2011) and PhD (2016) studies at İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University in the field of Molecular Biology and Genetics. Within the scope of her graduate studies, she carried out research on the research and development of new candidate molecules that can be used in the treatment of liver cancer, both prolonging the life and increasing the standard of living of the patients. Later, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Lund University on homologous recombination deficiency and PARP inhibition and drug resistance in ovarian cancer. She joined Koç University School of Medicine as a faculty member in 2019. Currently, she continues her research on elucidating drug resistance mechanisms in ovarian cancer, the effects of miRNAs on drug resistance, examining the molecular effects of clinical methods on human tissue, and the characterization of new anti-cancer agents.

Featured Publications

• Sahin, I.D., Christodoulou, M.S., Guzelcan, E.A. et al. A small library of chalcones induce liver cancer cell death through Akt phosphorylation inhibition. Sci Rep 10, 11814, 2020. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-68775-9
• Aytac, P.*, Durmaz, I.*, Houston, D.R., Cetin-Atalay, R., Tozkoparan, B. Novel triazolothiadiazines act as potent anticancer agents in liver cancer cells through Akt and ASK-1 proteins. Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry, 24(4):858-872. 2016. DOI: 10.1016/j.bmc.2016.01.013.
• Durmaz, I., Guven E.B., Ersahin, T., Ozturk M., Calis, I., Cetin-Atalay, R. Liver cancer cells are sensitive to Lanatoside C induced cell death independent of their PTEN status. Phytomedicine 23(1):42-51 2016. DOI: 10.1016/j.phymed.2015.11.012