Noted Human Geneticist Speaks at Bilkent on Gene Discovery in Complex Diseases
BY ALPER ÖZKAN (MSN/PhDII)
Last Wednesday, Bilkent University hosted a talk by Mary-Claire King, professor of genome sciences and of medicine at the University of Washington. A human geneticist, she is noted for discovering the vital breast cancer susceptibility genes BRCA1 and BRCA2, demonstrating the shared genetic heritage of humans and chimpanzees by comparative protein analysis and pioneering the use of genetic sequencing in the identification of murder victims and relatives of missing persons. Addressing Bilkent students as the academic grandchildren of Professor İhsan Doğramacı, Dr. King began by remarking on how great scholars like him are virtually immortal: even after death, their legacy lives on in their disciples, their intellectual children and grandchildren who continue to uphold their ideals and improve upon their great work.
While Dr. King's research career has encompassed many impressive highlights, her talk, entitled "Anna Karenina and the Multiple Origins of Complex Disease," focused on her current efforts to advance the field of personalized medicine by identifying individually rare mutations that together comprise surprisingly common diseases. Rejecting the long-standing notion that complex diseases result from the additive effects of minor but numerous flaws in the genetic code, Dr. King underlined the substantial body of evidence indicating that many common diseases are in fact vast series of rare single-gene defects with similar symptoms, where each individual patient suffers from a separate, and often unique, mutation that arises independently of any other incidence
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Translation Students Win Awards in Ministry of EU Affairs Competition
Every year the Turkish Ministry for EU Affairs, a governmental institution dealing with Turkey-EU negotiations and integration in Turkey's accession process to the EU, holds a translation competition to acknowledge gifted students of translation from universities across Turkey.
As has been the case for the last three years, Bilkent Department of Translation and Interpretation students represented the university, achieving first, second and third place in the Turkish-English and Turkish-French translation categories. Mefail Kanbulat was awarded first prize and Salih Uzuner ranked third in the Turkish-French translation category, while Melike Özen received second prize in the Turkish-English translation category. The awards also include a trip to Brussels. We wish our representatives a pleasant journey and continuation of their success.
15th Career Fair Hosts 42 Firms
Photographs by Gülay Aydın (GRA/V)
BY SENA KAYASÜ (ARCH/I)
On March 21, the 15th Career Fair was held at the Bilkent University Main Campus Sports Hall. The event hosted representatives from 42 major corporations and organizations, both government-based and private, including Aselsan, Arçelik, Dedeman, Deloitte, Hewlett-Packard, Hugo Boss, ING Bank, Johnson & Johnson, Koç Holding, the Ministry of Development and TÜBİTAK.
The Career Fair is held annually by the Bilkent Career Center. It provides Bilkent students with a chance to communicate with major firms about job and internship opportunities and to submit their resumes. Through the firms' representatives, students can get an idea about job prospects even before they graduate.
Students who spoke with Bilkent News had some suggestions for future fairs. While Özge Pelin Burhan (MBG) found this year's event to be quite well-organized, with many participants, she questioned the need for corporations that also accept online applications to be represented. Ece Özelçi (ME), on the other hand, focused on the timing: "I think one day is too short for such a comprehensive event. Most days are filled with classes, and we can only attend during the lunch hour." In her view, a two-day fair would better meet students' needs.
"Roy" Wins COMD One-Minute Film Competition
The Department of Communication and Design has held its third One-Minute Lunch Film Competition, featuring 12 one-minute-long films produced by COMD senior students. The awards ceremony took place on Friday, March 22 during the noon hour. The films were screened and the winners announced at the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture.
The online voting process for the best film took place over approximately ten days at http://oneminute. bilkent.edu.tr. The site received almost 3,200 votes, doubling last year's rate of participation.
COMD instructors Yusuf Akçura and Ufuk Önen stated that they were quite pleased with the rate of participation and quality of the event, which is the only one-minute film competition held in Turkey.
The winners of the third One-Minute Lunch Film Competition are:
First Place: "Roy"
Burcu Erdoğan - Emrah Müderrisoğlu - Nikolas Tomaidis - Volkan Kölüksüz
Second Place: "Psikolog"
Büke Göksel - Demirhan Şeker - Göksel Altül
Third Place: "The Conflict"
Gamze Ögeer - Melis Işıkyıldız