Emine Sümeyra Turalı Emre

Dr. Emine Sümeyra Turalı-Emre joined Boğaziçi University in 2024,, where she combines her expertise in nanotechnology, biomedical engineering, and data science to solve critical healthcare challenges. Her research focuses on engineering inorganic nanoparticles for applications such as drug and gene delivery, antibacterial and anticancer treatments, bone regeneration, and extracellular vesicle capturing for diagnostics.

Dr. Turalı-Emre began her academic journey with a BSc in Molecular Biology and Genetics from Istanbul University. She then joined Harvard Medical School and MIT as a Research Associate under Dr. Utkan Demirci’s supervision, contributing to groundbreaking work in tissue engineering, cancer model development, and stem cell niche design. She earned her MSc and PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Michigan, where she conducted innovative research under Dr. Nicholas A. Kotov. Her PhD thesis, Engineering Biomimetic Nanoparticles for Biomedical Applications, explored the design of nanoparticles for DNA and drug delivery, providing foundational insights into their therapeutic potential.Dr. Turalı-Emre continued her research as a Postdoctoral Fellow in Chemical Engineering at the University of Michigan, where she engineered chiral inorganic nanoparticles for advanced diagnostics and therapeutics. In collaboration with Dr. Scott VanEpps from the University of Michigan Medical School, she developed nanoparticle systems to combat biofilms and antibiotic-resistant bacteria, including MRSA. Her postdoctoral research also included computational modeling of nanoparticle-protein interactions and multi-scale chiral properties. After joining Boğaziçi University, she extended her collaboration with the University of Michigan as a Visiting Scholar, contributing to Coulter Translational Research Partnership projects focused on designing devices for extracellular vesicle capture, optimizing RNA isolation from biofilms, and developing antibacterial surfaces using chiral nanoparticles. Dr. Turalı-Emre’s work has been featured in leading journals such as Advanced Materials, Matter, and PNAS, with several publications highlighted on journal covers, including Advanced Materials. She is a member of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society, and has been recognized with several awards, including the BioInterfaces Research Community Innovator Award.

Passionate about cultivating interdisciplinary collaboration and DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion), Dr. Turalı-Emre welcomes undergraduate, graduate, and non-traditional students from various fields, including engineering, life sciences, and computer science, to join her lab. Her lab provides a vibrant environment for conducting impactful research and contributing to transformative innovations in healthcare.