From left to right: Tayfun Özçelik, Ebru Demir, Arzu Atalay, Işık Yuluğ

   The Research team at the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics received the “Best Scientific Work Award” from the “World Society for Breast Health” at the joint 6th National Breast Diseases Congress & 1st Congress of the World Society for Breast Health, held in September 2001. The Bilkent University and TÜBİTAK funded team, led by Assist. Prof. Işık Yuluğ and Assoc. Prof. Tayfun Özçelik, is studying the genetic risk factors that are associated with breast cancer in the Turkish population. Breast cancer is an important health problem and is among the most commonly seen malignancy among women. Approximately one in 10 women, develops breast cancer by the age of 70.
   Graduate students Gökçe Törüner, Arzu Atalay and Ebru Demir studied a group of genes implicated in the metabolism of carcinogenic substances and showed that a particular variant of one of these genes, namely GSTP1, confers an increased risk for breast cancer, especially in premenopausal women with a high body mass index. The Bilkent team is studying additional genetic risk factors that are thought to be associated with breast cancer to better understand the molecular bases of this disease. “The DNA bank that has been established for this research is even more valuable for future studies,especially in the light of the current developments on microchip technology,that gives us the opportunity to study thousands of mutations simultaneously” explained Dr. Yuluğ and Dr. Özçelik.