Arzu ÇELIK

Arzu ÇELIK is a Professor at Boğaziçi University specializing in neural development and Drosophila genetics. Her research spans visual system development and disease modeling, with significant implications for understanding human eye diseases and neurodevelopmental disorders through fundamental biological mechanisms.

Dr. ÇELIK earned her undergraduate and Master's degrees from Boğaziçi University, completed her PhD at Universität zu Köln, and undertook postdoctoral training at New York University. This multidisciplinary foundation in molecular biology and neuroscience underpins her current research program.

Her primary research focuses on cell type specification during eye development and neurodevelopmental/neurodegenerative disorder mechanisms. Using Drosophila melanogaster as a model system, she employs RNAi gene silencing and CRISPR/Cas gene editing to investigate human disease gene orthologs. Her work examines how genetic mutations deregulate neuronal development, network formation, and behavioral outcomes—particularly in intellectual disability—with direct relevance to therapeutic strategy development.

Analysis of her publication record (2007-2023) reveals three dominant research trajectories: (1) Drosophila retinal development mechanisms (particularly photoreceptor subtype specification), (2) genetic dissection of intellectual disability pathways using fly models of human disease genes, and (3) development of genetic tools for eye development studies. Recent work (2021-2023) increasingly emphasizes translational applications, modeling specific human conditions like spinocerebellar ataxia and ciliopathies through conserved genetic pathways.

No scientific awards were documented in the provided materials.

While graduate student advising details were not specified, her laboratory employs comprehensive approaches including behavioral analysis, structural neuroanatomy, and functional imaging to investigate genetic mechanisms. The absence of explicit grant information suggests research is likely supported through institutional funding and collaborative projects with international partners including Iranian research groups.

Her work operates at the intersection of developmental genetics and translational neuroscience, utilizing the North Park, KP 302 laboratory space at Boğaziçi University for Drosophila-based disease modeling and neural circuit analysis.