scientist studying centrosomes, cilia and centriolar satellites; associate prof @kocuniversity; alumna @ucberkeley @stanford; mom of 3👦1👧; 2X ERC StG
İstanbul, Türkiye
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- Followers 6,352
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Over the moon to share that I’ve been elected as an @EMBO member! This wouldn't have been possible without my fantastic mentors and collaborators, passionate past and present team members @kocuniversity, funding from @EMBO_YIP, @ERC_Research, @Tubitak and support of my family.
Outstanding scientists elected to EMBO Membership: in EMBO’s 60th anniversary year, 100 new members and 20 associate members join the community
embo.org/press-releases/outs…
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Elif Nur Firat-Karalar retweeted
Happy to see our work featured on the cover of @FEBSJournal. This confocal image shows mutant NEK1 aggregates (orange) in motor neurons of the mouse spinal cord, ultimately driving ALS pathology ++
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Articles in this collection provide insights into the assembly of centriolar satellites as well as centriole and centrosome structures, while exploring mechanisms underlying centrosome maturation, ciliary transport, and organization or ciliogenesis 👉 hubs.la/Q04rKct70
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Centriolar satellites assemble via a hierarchical pathway driven by PCM1 multimerization. From Efe Begar, Elif Nur Firat-Karalar @CytoLabKoc and colleagues: hubs.la/Q04rKdS00
📕 Part of #Centrosomes and #Cilia 2026: hubs.la/Q04rJNQw0
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MDPI is a predatory journal group gaming it's metrics. Just adding this for context.
Read here 🔽
predatoryjournals.org/news/i…
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Excited to share our new @JCellBiol paper! We show that centriolar satellites assemble via a hierarchical pathway driven by PCM1 multimerization , revealing how these membrane-less organelles assemble and function. Huge thanks to our amazing team, collaborators & @ERC_Research.
.@CytoLabKoc show PCM1 multimerization scaffolds centriolar satellite assembly & drives stepwise client recruitment. Disrupting this homeostasis impairs ciliary signaling & #mitosis. Key insights into how this membraneless organelle forms & remodels hubs.la/Q04l3fVz0
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Thanks to all for sending in some spectacular images. And congratulations to the winners!! 🎉🎉
Big congratulations to our winners: Smilla-Maria Koy (1st), Chandrama Ghosh (2nd), and Anthony Rabaté (3rd)! Check out their breath-taking micrographs and the rest of the Top 15 entries in the stunning poster attached. The future of cilia research looks beautiful. 📸 #Cilia2027
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How do migrating cells coordinate actin, microtubules, and focal adhesions? Our preprint identifies CCDC66 as an actin–microtubule crosslinker that promotes microtubule targeting to FAs and maintains balance between protrusion and contractility.
biorxiv.org/content/10.64898…
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Huge congratulations to @ghotamis on being elected to the National Academy of Sciences. A remarkable and truly deserved honor!
So proud of my mentor Gokhan Hotamisligil @ghotamis for his election to the National Academy of Sciences. So well deserved!!
nasonline.org/news/2026-nas-…
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Excited to share our collaborative paper showing that the Joubert syndrome-associated protein CSPP1 is a conserved regulator of vertebrate multiciliogenesis and motile cilia function. Here is a link the paper: biorxiv.org/content/10.64898… 👇
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Using mouse airway cultures and Xenopus epidermis, we find convergent defects in centriole amplification, basal body organization, cilia assembly, and motility. Our work helps explain why a neurodevelopmental ciliopathy can also present with respiratory phenotypes.
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Excited to have contributed to this paper showing in vivo proof of concept for a potential new therapeutic strategy in ALS through PML-mediated protein clearance. We are also excited by the link between ciliopathies and ALS through NEK1, with more to uncover mechanistically.
Our new paper demonstrates for the first time the in vivo feasibility of PML-based therapeutic strategies for neurodegeneration. Focusing on ALS, we provide strong proof of concept evidence that inducing PML to clear disease-causing proteins is a promising therapeutic approach
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Elif Nur Firat-Karalar retweeted
Excited to share our new preprint on Hi-APEX — a truly H2O2-independent proximity labeling method!
We discovered a new probe, tetrazine-phenol, which enables APEX2 labeling without needing exogenous H2O2. Best part? No changes to the APEX2 enzyme are required.
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Honored to receive the Academic Star award from the Female Legends Türkiye program. Meeting inspiring women from different fields reminded me of the power of female leadership.Each awardee spoke with humility, thanking their teams/families and showing that real success is shared.
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I am thrilled to be featured in the ‘First Persons’ through the decades article in Journal of Cell Science.. It is honoring for me to appear on the same page as David Stephens, an outstanding scientist, leader, and mentor in the cilia field, who sadly passed away in 2024.
Our ‘First Person’ series was launched in 2017 to highlight the first authors of our Research Articles. In this ‘First Persons through the decades’ article, Amelia Glazier highlights some notable scientists who have published first-author papers in JCS.
journals.biologists.com/jcs/…
ALT Photos of Honor Fell, Karm Bahl, Peter Medawar, Jean Hanson, Irène Manton, Linda Amos, Juan Bonifacino, Chiara Zurzolo, David Stephens, Elif Nur Firat-Karalar. Text: 'First Persons' through the decades - 100 years of notable scientists in Journal of Cell Science
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Elif Nur Firat-Karalar retweeted
From our Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Dr. Elif Nur Fırat Karalar and her team reveal how DYRK kinases regulate the cell’s tiny “antenna” — the primary cilium. Their study has just been published in Communications Biology.
Moleküler Biyoloji ve Genetik Bölümü Öğretim Üyemiz Prof. Dr. Elif Nur Fırat Karalar ve ekibinin yeni çalışması Nature Communications Biology’de yayımlandı!
Araştırma, DYRK kinazlarının, hücrelerin küçük “anteni” olan birincil kirpiğin sağlıklı yapısında kritik rol oynadığını gösteriyor.
@ArslanhanMelis @CommsBio @Tubitak @EMBO_YIP @ERC_Research
New paper on DYRK kinases and primary cilium!
This project began with our interest in DYRK3’s relationship to centriolar satellites. But what started as a CS-focused story soon evolved into studying DYRK kinase activity during ciliogenesis.
nature.com/articles/s42003-0…
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Elif Nur Firat-Karalar retweeted
Excited to share our new preprint introducing CenSegNet, a deep learning framework for high-throughput, spatially resolved, single-cell centrosome profiling in heterogeneous tissues. Co-led by brilliant PhD students, Jiaoqi Cheng & Keqiang Fan.
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biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/…
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Life in academia would have been so much better without “reviewer#2” or PIs spending their entire time bringing others down instead of elevating their own science, or without editors who take months to decide to editorially reject your papers. But maybe then life would have been too boring? 🤦♂️
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I met Can when I first started at Koç University, back when he was a master’s student. Since then, he has built an impressive career, congratulations on receiving the ERC StG! I am excited to see the outcomes of SigReg project.
🥳Thrilled to share that our lab has been awarded an ERC StGrant for our project SigReg: Signal to Regeneration!
How can we unlock limb regeneration in adult mammals?
It’s time to apply what we learned from 🐸 ➡️ 🐭
bio.mpg.de/480424/news_publi…
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Elif Nur Firat-Karalar retweeted
The causes of early-life eczema have been unclear, but evidence indicates that changes to fetal immune cells and sensory neurons during pregnancy play a key part @Nature 🇫🇷
nature.com/articles/s41586-0…
nature.com/articles/d41586-0…
@NatureNV preview by @Abhay_R_
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