About
I am a PhD candidate in Molecular Biology and Genetics at Bilkent University in Ankara. I work in Asst. Prof. Onur Çizmecioğlu's lab, which studies PI3K signaling and breast cancer. My thesis is on two genes associated with pediatric kidney developmental disorders, and on how their disease-associated variants affect the function of kidney epithelial cells. I also analyze RNA-seq and metabolomics data in R/Bioconductor and Python.
I did my B.Sc. at Acıbadem University on a full scholarship. My undergraduate research covered SARS-CoV-2 variants and microbiome analysis, bacteriophages and biofilm formation in the wet lab, and protein-stability prediction in R and Python. I was also a project intern in Asst. Prof. Christopher Mayack's lab at Sabancı University, on RNA expression and regulation in honey bees. At Bilkent, I was a teaching assistant for a microbiology lab course in Spring 2025 and Spring 2026. I also supervise interns at the bench. I go by Burak.
Short bio
Mehmet Burak Taşkaya is a PhD candidate in Molecular Biology and Genetics at Bilkent University in Ankara, Türkiye, advised by Asst. Prof. Onur Çizmecioğlu. His thesis is a functional analysis of two genes associated with pediatric kidney developmental disorders, in kidney epithelial cell lines. He also analyzes RNA-seq and metabolomics data in R and Python. He holds a B.Sc. in Molecular Biology and Genetics from Acıbadem University.
Beyond the lab
I speak Turkish and English. I have limited working proficiency in German and elementary knowledge of Chinese, Spanish, French, and Latin. As an undergraduate at Acıbadem University, I was a board member of the Foreign Languages and Communication Club, on the translation team of the ACURARE rare-diseases club, and head of corporate communications for the Red Crescent club.