معرفی
Demet Arac-Ozkan is an Associate Professor at the University of Chicago in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Her research focuses on the structural and functional characterization of cell-surface receptors that mediate intercellular adhesion and communication, particularly in neurodevelopment and disease contexts.
- PhD in Molecular Biophysics from UT Southwestern Medical Center (2006)
- Postdoctoral training at Stanford University (2013)
- BSc in Molecular Biology and Genetics from Bilkent University (1999)
Her work investigates adhesion GPCRs and their roles in synaptogenesis, axon pathfinding, and brain-heart development. She aims to elucidate high-resolution structures of these receptors and their complexes to identify therapeutic targets for neurological disorders and cancers.
Notable awards include the Brain Research Foundation Seed Grant (2014-2015), University of Chicago Big Ideas Generator (2014), and the Life Sciences Research Foundation Fellowship (2007-2010). Her research is supported by multiple NIH grants, including R35GM148412 (2023-2028) for structural studies of adhesion receptors.
