Department of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology

Protein / peptide formulations such as nucleic acid products, therapeutic recombinant proteins, antibodies and vaccines recently constitute a significant group among the drugs in the market and form a rapidly developing field of research&development and production in terms of the pharmaceutical industry.

Pharmaceutical biotechnology is the science that covers the technologies required for the formulation and production of biological / biotechnological drugs. Biological / biotechnological drugs are formulations grouped generally as immunological medicinal products, blood products, products obtained by recombinant DNA technology, hybridoma and monoclonal antibody methods, advanced cellular medical treatment products, and cell culture media. The development of such formulations includes many stages. These are the steps that form the research areas of pharmaceutical biotechnology:

• Understanding molecular mechanisms associated with the activity of biological / biotechnological drugs
• Development of diagnostic agents for medical tests
• Recombinant DNA technology and pharmaceutical applications
• Determination of the shelf life, stability, toxicity, immunogenicity of recombinant products
• Development of drug delivery and targeting systems for recombinant products
• Hybridoma technology and monoclonal antibody production
• Formulation and production of peptide and protein drugs
• Antisense technology and applications
• Gene therapy and gene carrier systems
• Recombinant DNA technology vaccines
• Cell-based advanced therapy methods
• Fermentation techniques and applications in the pharmaceutical industry
• Patent

Research

Our research projects, supported by TUBITAK and has been carrying out in collaboration with other departments and faculties, focus on the following topics.

• Pharmaceutical applications of recombinant DNA technology
• Formulation of protein / peptide drugs and development / targeting of carrier systems
• Formulation and targeting of DNA / RNA drugs based on gene silencing technique
• Use of exosomes as drug delivery systems
• Investigation of the molecular mechanisms of cancer, tumor immunology and immunotherapy
• Therapeutic proteins
• DNA telomeres / telomerases, DNA topology / Topoisomerase
• Maya hybrid technologies

Lessons

Pharmaceutical Biotechnology (7th Semester-Compulsory)
Introduction to Molecular Biology (3rd Semester-Compulsory)
Recombinant DNA Techniques (Science Faculty Biology BSc)
Gene Technology and Applications (Science Faculty Biochemistry BSc)
Good Manufacturing Practice in Pharmacy (Elective-Partially)
Pharmaceutical Research and Development (Elective-Partially)

Academic Staff

Prof. Dr. Zeki Topçu
Prof. Dr. Gülten KANTARCI(Head of Dept.)
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Yücel BAŞPINAR
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hasan AKBABA
Assoc.Prof. Dr. Bilge DEBELEÇ BÜTÜNER
Res. Asst. Dr. Mustafa KOTMAKÇI