Murat Acar

Murat Acar is a Professor in the Department of Medical Biology at the School of Basic Medical Sciences, Koç University. Previously, he served as a full-time faculty member at Yale University's Department of Molecular Cellular & Developmental Biology and Yale Systems Biology Institute from 2012 to 2022, where he was promoted to Associate Professor in 2017.

Education:

• PhD in Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2007)
• Bachelor's in Physics, Boğaziçi University (2000)

His research program focuses on Systems Biology, Computational Biology, and Synthetic Biology approaches to uncover genetic, epigenetic, and pharmaceutical modulators of cellular aging and organismal lifespan. The ACAR Lab integrates experimental systems biology with machine/deep learning methods, utilizing microfluidic technologies and single-cell RNA sequencing to investigate noise in gene expression, synthetic circuit design, and drug screening for aging-related pathways.

Major Scientific Awards:

• NIH Director's New Innovator Award (2014)
• Ellison Medical Foundation New Scholar in Aging Award (2013)
• Yale Junior Faculty Fellowship (2014-2015)
• CBCD Fellow at Caltech (2007-2011)

Professor Acar leads the ACAR Lab, which develops computational frameworks and experimental platforms to study cellular aging mechanisms through feedback regulation in gene networks and synthetic circuit implementations. His work bridges fundamental biological principles with translational applications for lifespan modulation.