Burcu Firatligil Yildirir

In my current role as a postdoctoral researcher in the Precision Nanomaterials Group, I have been working on breast cancer metastasis and developing different 3D culture models to understand how breast cancer initiates and how and why its organ-specific metastasis develops. 

In addition to focusing on research, I actively train and supervise students from diverse backgrounds for their bachelor`s (BSc) and master's (MSc) theses. 

I have over 10 years of experience developing 3D in vitro models and microfluidic platforms to identify molecular, mechanical and biochemical changes promoting the formation of breast cancer metastasis using cell, tissue and patient-derived samples. 

I use my expertise in in situ contactless rheology to create dynamically responsive soft materials that model breast cancer tissue at both primary sites and secondary metastatic target sites, taking into account not only the genomic events in individual cancer cells but also the composition of the surrounding environment.
 

Firatligil-Yildirir, B., Bati-Ayaz, G., Nonappa, Pesen-Okvur, D., & Yalcin-Ozuysal, O. (2024). Invasion/Chemotaxis- and Extravasation-chip models for breast cancer bone metastasis. PLOS ONE. 

Laakko, T., Korkealaakso, A., Yildirir, B. F., Batys, P., Liljeström, V., Hokkanen, A., Nonappa, N., Penttilä, M., Laukkanen, A., Miserez, A., Södergård, C., & Mohammadi, P. (2024). Accelerated Engineering of ELP‐based Materials through Hybrid Biomimetic‐De Novo Predictive Molecular Design. Advanced Materials. 

Firatligil-Yildirir, B., Yalcin-Ozuysal, O., & Nonappa, N. (2023). Recent advances in lab-on-a-chip systems for breast cancer metastasis research. Nanoscale Advances.

Firatligil‐Yildirir, B., Bati‐Ayaz, G., Tahmaz, I., Bilgen, M., Pesen‐Okvur, D., & Yalcin‐Ozuysal, O. (2021). On‐chip determination of tissue‐specific metastatic potential of breast cancer cells. Biotechnology and Bioengineering.

Sarigil, O., Anil‐Inevi, M., Firatligil‐Yildirir, B., Unal, Y. C., Yalcin‐Ozuysal, O., Mese, G., Tekin, H. C., & Ozcivici, E. (2020). Scaffold‐free biofabrication of adipocyte structures with magnetic levitation. Biotechnology and Bioengineering.

Ilhan, M., Kucukkose, C., Efe, E., Gunyuz, Z. E., Firatligil, B., Dogan, H., Ozuysal, M., & Yalcin-Ozuysal, O. (2020). Pro-metastatic functions of Notch signaling is mediated by CYR61 in breast cells. European Journal of Cell Biology.