Biography

Y. Murat ELÇIN, PhD is a Professor of Biochemistry at Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey since 1996. He studied chemistry at Ankara University; received MSc (1990) and PhD (1993) titles in Biochemistry from AU; performed postdoctoral training at University of California-Los Angeles School of Medicine, Los Angeles, USA (1995). He was a visiting scientist at Oxford University, UK (1997), research associate (UNESCO fellow) at UCLA, USA (1998) and invited research associate at University of Giessen, Germany (2000, 2001). Prof. Elcin’s major research interests are clinical tissue engineering, stem cells, regenerative medicine, regenerative biomaterials and medical devices. He has been involved in the first clinical tissue engineering study of Turkey (2003). He has established the ElcinLab (www.elcinlab.org) and is currently leading a research group of >15 members (with a funding of >3.5M € from national and international sources as the P.I.). He has been the supervisor of ~50 post-graduate studies (22 PhD, 28 MSc). He has authored ?80 peer-reviewed publications in scientific journals (H-Index: 27; i10-index: 52, total number of citations: >2167; Source of citation data: Google Scholar), 15+ book chapters and around 200 conference proceedings. He has presented ~100 keynotes, invited and seminar lectures in the tissue engineering, stem cells and regenerative biomaterials field. Prof. Elcin is the inventor of several patents, and the founder of a startup company, Biovalda Health Technologies, Inc. (www.biovalda.com.tr). He is editor of the book “Tissue Engineering, Stem Cells and Gene Therapies” (2003 Kluwer-Plenum), and translation editor of the book “Lehninger- Principles of Biochemistry-5th ed.” (2013 Palme). Prof. Elcin is an elected associate member (2008) of the Turkish Academy of Sciences (TÜBA) and a member of the TÜBA Stem Cell Working Group since 2005. Prof. Elcin is the recipient of several science awards, including TAOS Young Scientist Award (2002), and The Ankara University Science Award (2008). He has served as Chair of Biochemistry Division at Faculty of Science between 2005 and 2017. He has been the founding Deputy Director of Ankara University Stem Cell Institute between 2010 and 2016. Prof. Elcin has been the coordinator of the TÜBA Stem Cell Working Group between 2013-2017, and UNESCO-Turkey Bioethics Committee member between 2014-2018. He is the founding member of the Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Society (Turkey), and The Society for Cellular Therapy and Regenerative Medicine (Turkey). He has chaired several international scientific meetings, including BIOMED 2002, BIOMED 2011 and BIOMED 2017. He serves (or has served) as scientific consultant or as advisory committee member for a number of national and international organizations and funding agencies. He is in the editorial board of a dozen scientific journals including, Stem Cell Reviews and Reports (Springer), Journal of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine (Wiley), and Genes and Diseases (Elsevier). He has guest edited the special issue of Springer’s Stem Cell Reviews and Reports on “Organ-on-Chips and 3D-Bioprinting Technologies for Personalized Medicine” (06/2017). Prof. Elcin has recently received the “Parlar Foundation 2018 Science Award”.