Dr. Tuğba Bağcı Önder graduated from the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Bilkent University in 2002. She then earned her Ph.D. degree in Neuroscience at Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences at Tufts University in 2008. During her doctoral studies, she studied the role of a novel receptor-ligand pair (Neuropilin-1/Sema3A) in the migratory behavior of aggressive brain tumor cells. She then moved to Harvard Medical School as a postdoctoral fellow and worked on the development of tumor-specific therapies in animal models of brain cancer. In 2012, she joined Koç University School of Medicine (KUSOM) and established the Brain Cancer Research and Therapy Laboratory. Her research group is currently working on the epigenetic regulation of cell death and migration in brain cancers. Her work is supported by FP7 Programme-Marie Curie Career Integration Grant, TÜBİTAK and KUSOM. Dr. Bağcı Önder is also a recipient of Barbara Talamo Trainee (2008), UNESCO-L’oreal Women in Science (2013) and BAGEP (2014) awards. For more information, please visit her lab’s website https://bagcionderlab.ku.edu.tr/

Selected publications:

 Kurt IC, Sur I, Kaya E, Cingoz A, Kazancioglu S, Kahya Z, Toparlak OD, Senbabaoglu F, Kaya Z, Ozyerli E, Karahuseyinoglu S, Lack NA, Gumus ZH, Onder T, and Bagci-Onder T. “KDM2B/JHDM1B, an H3K36-specific demethylase, regulates apoptotic response of GBM cells to TRAIL”. Cell Death and Disease, 2017 Jun 29;8(6):e2897. doi: 10.1038/cddis.2017.288

Adiguzel Z, Ozalp-Yaman S, Celik G, Salem S, Bagci-Onder T, Cetin Y, Acilan C. “A novel platinum-blue complex exerts its cytotoxic activity via DNA damage and induces apoptosis in cancer cells”.  Chem Biol Drug Des. 2017 Jan 12. doi: 10.1111/cbdd.12940.

Erkoç P, Cingoz A, Bagci-Onder T, Kızılel S. “Quinacrine mediated sensitization of GBM cells to TRAIL through MMP-sensitive PEH hydrogel carriers”. Macromol Biosci.  2016 Oct 20. doi: 10.1002/mabi.201600267.

Senbabaoglu F, Cingoz A, Kaya E, Kazancioglu S, Lack N, Acilan C, and Bagci-Onder T. “Identification of Mitoxantrone as a TRAIL-sensitizing agent for Glioblastoma Multiforme”. Cancer Biology and Therapy, 2016 May 3;17(5):546-57. doi: 10.1080/15384047.2016.1167292.

Uzer B, Toker SM, Cingoz A, Bagci-Onder T, Gerstein G, Maier HJ, Canadinc D. “An exploration of plastic deformation dependence of cell viability and adhesion in metallic implant materials” J Mech Behav Biomed Mater. 2016 Jan 11;60:177-186. doi: 10.1016/j.jmbbm.2016.01.001.

 Bagci-Onder T*, Du W*, Figueiredo JL, Martinez-Quintanilla J, Shah K. “Targeting breast to brain metastatic tumours with death receptor ligand expressing therapeutic stem cells”. *equal contribution. BRAIN. 2015 Apr 23. pii: awv094

 Bagci-Onder T, Agarwal AS, Flusberg D, Wanningen S, Sorger P, Shah K. “Real-time imaging of the dynamics of death receptors and combinatorial therapies that overcome TRAIL resistance in tumors”.  Oncogene. 2013 Jun 6;32(23):2818-27. doi: 10.1038/onc.2012.304. Epub 2012 Jul 23.

 Bagci-Onder T, Wakimoto H, Anderegg MC, Cameron C, Shah K. “A dual PI3K/mTOR inhibitor, PI-103, cooperates with stem-cell delivered TRAIL in experimental glioma models”. Cancer Research. 2011 Jan 1;71(1):154-63.

Van de Water JA, Bagci-Onder T, Agarwal AS, Wakimoto H, Roovers RC, Zhu Y, Kasmieh R, Bhere D, Van Bergen En Henegouwen PM, Shah K. “Therapeutic stem cells expressing different variants of EGFR-specific nanobodies have anti-tumor effects”. Proc Natl Acad USA. 2012 Oct 9;109(41):16642-7.

 Bagci T, Wu JK, Pfannl R, Ilac LL, Jay DG. “Autocrine Sema3A signaling promotes glioblastoma dispersal”.   Oncogene 2009 Oct 8;28(40):3537-50.