Assoc. Prof. Dr. Fatih Kocabaş, faculty member of the Genetics and Bioengineering Department at Yeditepe University, was honored with the Outstanding Young Scientist Award (GEBİP) organized by the Turkish Academay of Sciences (TÜBA) to encourage young scientists. Dr. Kocabaş received the TÜBA-GEBİP award for his research on the MEIS protein used by cancer for survival and its exploration in various types of cancer. His work, which involves targeting this protein with small molecules to inhibit cancer growth, was recognized at a ceremony recently held. Kocabaş received the award from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
In his speech about the TÜBA-GEBİP award in the field of Medical Biology and Health Sciences, Dr. Kocabaş stated, “This significant award is a great honor in terms of appreciating our contributions to cancer research and recognizing the therapeutic potential of targeting MEIS proteins.”
About Assoc. Prof. Dr. Fatih Kocabaş:
Born in Ankara in 1983, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Fatih Kocabaş graduated from Middle East Technical University, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics in 2006. Following his research at Caltech and UCSF, he completed his PhD at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre in 2012. Returning to Turkey as part of the Marie Curie-TÜBİTAK program, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Fatih Kocabaş works in the Department of Genetics and Bioengineering at Yeditepe University.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Fatih Kocabaş has led various projects supported by leading organizations such as TÜBİTAK, Turkish Society of Haematology, ICGEB, European Horizon 2020 Marie Curie Program, Science Academy, Gilead, and ERA-CVD. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kocabaş, who worked as a researcher in the stem cell centre project supported by the Ministry of Development, worked as a consultant in six TÜBİTAK 2209-A supported projects of university students. He is also the founder of Meinox Pharmaceutical Technologies, supported by TÜBİTAK 1512 BiGG and European SME programs.
Fatih Kocabaş, who has won more than 15 awards, including the International Hematology & Oncology Award (Sweden, 2018) and TÜBİTAK Incentive Award (2022), has published in prestigious journals such as Nature, Cell Stem Cell, Blood. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Fatih Kocabaş's most important contributions to science can be listed as the understanding of stem cell metabolism, development of cell proliferation technologies, elucidation of cardiac regeneration mechanisms, development of new active ingredients (MEIS and OTU inhibitors) and RNA technologies.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Fatih Kocabaş has patents in Türkiye, USA, Europe, Australia, China, South Korea, India, Japan and Russia, over 50 publications (articles and book chapters) and over 100 papers—the author of the book "Medicine 2.0: GEN and RNA Therapy", Assoc. Prof. Dr. Fatih Kocabaş's H-index value is 14 (Web of Science-November 2023), and his studies have received more than 2600 citations.
