Bilkent Confers Honorary Doctorate on Pascal Lamy, WTO Director-General
Photograph by Photograph by Aydın Ramazanoğlu
Bilkent University conferred an honorary doctoral degree in the field of social sciences on Pascal Lamy, the director-general of the World Trade Organization, at a ceremony held on Friday, March 15 at Mithat Çoruh Auditorium.
As a preface to his talk, entitled "The WTO in Global Governance -- Solid? Liquid? Gaseous?," Mr. Lamy expressed his sentiments upon the occasion of receiving an honorary degree from Bilkent.
"Being with you in 'bilim kenti,' the city of learning and science, I am both honored and moved. ‘Honored’ because there is nothing more humbling than to stand here before you today, in this house of knowledge, to speak about the place of the World Trade Organization in the global governance architecture…. ‘Moved’ because I still remember the very founder of this institution, İhsan Doğramacı, who had contributed to the establishment of numerous public institutions of higher learning, who had served as rector of Ankara University, and as founder and first rector of Hacettepe University."
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Mary-Claire King, Eminent Geneticist, to Speak at Bilkent
Professor Mary-Claire King, American Cancer Society Research Professor at the University of Washington, and member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the French Academy of Sciences, will be visiting Bilkent University to give a seminar entitled "Anna Karenina and the Genetics of Complex Disease," on Wednesday, March 20.
Prof. King is known worldwide for her work in human genetics research. Some of her most noteworthy achievements include: identifying the BRCA1 gene responsible for inherited susceptibility to breast cancer; demonstrating that the genomes of humans and chimpanzees are 99 percent genetically identical; and pioneering the application of genomic sequencing methods in forensics to identify victims of human rights abuse.
Her current research employs the use of experimental and bioinformatics genomics tools to study complex genetic diseases in humans. Dr. King has won many awards and honors for her seminal contributions to genetics research, as well as her humanitarian efforts.
The seminar, organized by the Faculty of Science, will be held at Mithat Çoruh Auditorium at 3:40 p.m.
This week, the Department of Communication and Design is holding its third One-Minute Lunch Film Competition, featuring 12 minute-long films produced by COMD fourth-year students. Participating films will be screened and the winners announced at an awards ceremony, which will take place on March 22 between 12:30 and 1:30 p.m. at the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture.
Voting for the best film is taking place online at http://oneminute.bilkent.edu.tr, where the films are available for viewing. Everyone is invited to vote for their favorite films.
MBG Researchers Receive Pharmaceutical Research Award
Assoc. Prof. Rengül Çetin-Atalay and her student Dr. Ebru Bilget-Güven of the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, in collaboration with Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at Ankara University, have received the Erol Toksöz Pharmaceutical Research Award, given by Sanovel Pharmaceuticals Inc. to recognize innovative work in this field by scientists in Turkey. The award ceremony took place on March 1 in Ankara.
The selection criteria set out by the award jury focused on the novelty and potential international impact of a study, which had to be conducted solely by Turkish institutions. This year's award-winning study was published in April 2012 in the ACS Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, the leading journal in the field of medicinal chemistry according to Journal Citation Reports (Thomson Reuters).
In the study, Dr. Çetin-Atalay’s group described the molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in the cytotoxicity induced by a small molecule as a senescence-associated cell death in liver cancer. During cellular senescence, cells grow old and die due to aging. Involvement of novel chemotherapeutic candidates in reprogramming senescence in cancer cells has been a hot topic of study in the realm of cancer treatment. Recent studies indicate that drug-dependent senescence is a promising mechanism that may advance cancer therapy.
42 Firms to Offer Jobs, Internships at Career Fair
This year's Career Fair will take place on Thursday, March 21 between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. in the Main Sports Hall. This will be a great opportunity for you to meet representatives from different companies and learn about their recruitment policies. If you are looking for an internship, the fair is an excellent place to explore possibilities. Profiles for all of the companies taking part in this year's Career Fair are included in the insert in this issue of Bilkent News.
Also, be sure to mark your agendas for a Company Presentation of the IMS Consulting Group on March 19 at 12:40 p.m. in the FADA building, FFB-05.
If you are a CS, EE, IE, ME, ECON, MAN or MBA student, attending this presentation will give you the chance to apply for full-time jobs and internships.