Ufuk Gündüz

Middle East Technical University, Biological Sciences, Faculty Member

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B.S. /Department of Chemical Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames,Iowa, USA, 1973
M.S. /Department of ChemicalEngineering, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA, 1975
Ph.D. / Department of Biology, Middle East Technical University, Ankara,Turkey, 1990

WORK EXPERIENCE
Professional Experience
Teaching Assistant, Department of Chemical Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA (1973-1975)
Research Assistant, Department of Biology, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey (1975-1982)
Post-Doctoral Fellow, University of Tennessee, Center for Health Sciences, Memphis, TN, USA (1982-1983)
Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey (1984)
Associate Professor, Department of Biology, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey (1986)
Professor, Department of Biology, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey (1990)
Visiting Scientist, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA, (2002-2003)
Visiting Professor, Chemical Engineering, Northern Cyprus Campus of METU, Güzelyurt, Cyprus (2013)

Administrative Positions
Assistant to Chairperson, Department of Biology, Middle East Technical University (1988-1991)
Chairperson, Department of Biotechnology, Middle East Technical University (1991-1992)
Executive Committee Member, Department of Biotechnology, Middle East Technical University (1989-1996)

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Papers by Ufuk Gündüz

Transformation of Streptococcus Thermophilus with Plasmid DNA by Electroporation

by Fatih Yildiz, Güngör Gündüz, and Ufuk Gündüz

Recent Advances in Biotechnology, 1992

Telomere 1 (POT1) gene expression and its association with telomerase activity in colorectal tumor samples with different pathological features

by Ahu Izgi and Ufuk Gündüz

Biomedicine & pharmacotherapy = Biomédecine & pharmacothérapie, 2014

The ends of chromosoms, telomeres are bound with a number of proteins which protect and stabilize... more The ends of chromosoms, telomeres are bound with a number of proteins which protect and stabilize telomeres against degredation, end to end fusion and aberrant recombinations. Telomeric DNA is bound of two groups of proteins, which are double-stranded telomeric DNA bindings proteins, and single stranded telomeric binding proteins. Among telomere binding proteins, protections of telomere 1 protein is a single stranded telomere binding proteins and suggested to be a significant player for telomere elongation and has an association with an enzyme called as telomerase which is an intrinsic reverse transcriptase. Telomerase synthesizes hexameric telomeric repeats onto the chromosomes thereby compansating telomere loss in immortal cells, such as tumor cells, whereas telomeres are shorthened with each division in normal cells. PCR-based TRAP (telomeric repeat amplification protocol) assay is a very sensitive assay for the detection of enzymatic activity of telomerase even if a few numbers ...

Significance of Telomerase Activity and Gene Expression in Colorectal Cancer

by Ahu Izgi and Ufuk Gündüz

Introduction: Telomerase is a ribonucleoprotein synthesizing telomeric DNA onto the chromosomes w... more Introduction: Telomerase is a ribonucleoprotein synthesizing telomeric DNA onto the chromosomes which has two functional subunits: hTERT (human telomerase reverse transcriptase) and hTR (human telomerase RNA). Activation of telomerase appears to be associated with unlimited replicative potential. Telomerase activity and expression of telomerase components may have significant roles in diagnosis or/and prognosis of malignancies. PCR-based TRAP assay is very sensitive for the detection of enzymatic activity of telomerase even if a few number of cancerous cells are available. The diagnostic or prognostic value of telomerase activity and its expression in colorectal cancer are still unclear. Material and Methods: Protein extraction was performed from specimens of matched normal and colon cancer specimens. Protein concetrations were determined by Bradford assay. Optimized protein concentrations were used for TRAP Assay (Telomeric repeat amplification protocol) which is a PCR-based assay. TRAP products were seperated by vertical gel electrophoresis on 12.5% polyacrylamide gel and visualized by silver staining. Gene expression of hTERT was determined by qPCR analysis. Results: The results demonstrated that all tumor tissues were telomerase positive whereas all corresponding normal tissues were telomerase negative. Among clinicopathological findings, telomerase activity was found to be associated with stage, histology, localization, distant metastasis and lymph node metastasis of tumor. The expression of hTERT was observed both in tumor and normal tissues, however; tumor tissues expressed 4.33 fold more hTERT than normal tissues. Although all of the clinicopathological findings differed in the expression of hTERT compared to normal tissues, they did not differ from each other significantly. Conclusion: Telomerase activity could be a promising tumor marker for colorectal cancer and there is a close association between the enzymatic activity and the expression of its catalytic subunit.

Ufuk Gündüz

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