My research interests are the effect of environmental factors on microbiome diversity and wastewater treatment performance, stress-related gene expression, wetland design, performance, and water/soil biogeochemistry.
CAREER
10/2020 – Present
PhD Researcher | University of the Highlands and Islands, Thurso, United Kingdom
● A four-year research position, funded by the Scottish Government
● The position is based in Environmental Research Institute in Thurso, and Rivers and Lochs Institute in Inverness
05/2018 – 07/2020
Research & Development Specialist | Beko Global, Istanbul, Turkey
R&D specialist in the healthcare division of Beko Group – working with a large team of medical doctors, software engineers, business and product designers.
● Took part in research and development projects of the new class II FDA registered mobile cardiac monitoring device: BeyondCare, and fully automated triage kiosk for emergency department: Corensis
● Worked in the development process, which included concept development, defining and generating design requirements, prototyping, preclinical studies, and clinical testing
12/2017 – 04/2018
Clinical Research Assistant | Janssen Pharmaceuticals of Johnson & Johnson, Istanbul, Turkey
● Assisted the phase II and III clinical research operation of Esketamine, Paliperidone, and Risperidone, including Ethical Committee & Ministry of Health submission and follow-up until approval
● Supported setting up, monitoring, and reporting on clinical trials in confirmatory with ICH/GCP, global SOPs, and local regulation
EDUCATION
10/2020 –
University of the Highlands and Islands | Thurso, Scotland, UK
PhD: Environmental Science
Supervisor: Dr. Mark Taggart
Thesis Title: Reed Bed Use Within Scotch Whisky Distilleries to Treat Wastewater: A New Toolkit to Help Maximise Performance
09/2016 – 09/2017
Newcastle University | Newcastle upon Tyne, England, UK
MSc: Industrial Biotechnology
Thesis Title: The Effect of Salinity and Shaking on Growth, and Lipid Biosynthesis-Related Gene Expression in Parachlorella kessleri
09/2011 – 06/2015
Bogazici University | Istanbul, Turkey
BSc: Molecular Biology and Genetics
Reed Bed Use Within Scotch Whisky Distilleries to Treat Wastewater: A New Toolkit to Help Maximise Performance
https://www.uhi.ac.uk/en/media/news/new-projects-place-highland-researchers-at-forefront-of-water-innovation.html
https://www.hydronationscholars.scot/scholars/ilgaz-%C3%A7akin
Kesim, C., Tas, A.Y., Karslıoglu, M.Z., Ozkaya, A., Gokgur, E., Cakin, I., Yavuz, U., Baki, P., Chang, S.Y. and Sahin, A., 2020. Validation results of a deep learning algorithm for detection of diabetic retinopathy with lesion localization from retinal fundus photographs. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 61(7), pp.1626-1626.
