Baris Tursun

Baris Tursun (born 1974) is a German biologist of Turkish descent. He is a professor of molecular cell biology of animals at the University of Hamburg. His research focuses on genetics, epigenetics and gene regulation with regard to the reprogramming and protective mechanisms of living cells.
==Career==
Tursun studied biology with a major in genetics and molecular biology at the University of Hamburg from 1996 to 2001. His diploma thesis dealt with the proteolytic maturation of mitochondrial proteins in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In 2006, he received his doctorate at the Centre for Molecular Neurobiology of the Medical Faculty of the University of Hamburg (ZMNH). Tursun received the Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds (BIF) scholarship for his doctoral thesis, which focused on protein regulation during neuronal development in mice.
After a six-month postdoctoral stay at the University of Massachusetts in Worcester (USA), where he continued working on the topic of his doctoral thesis, he began a postdoctoral fellowship at Columbia University in New York (USA) in summer 2006. In Oliver Hobert's research group, he started using the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as a genetic model organism for his research. With the help of C. elegans, he investigated the regulation of genes in the development and reprogramming of nerve cells. For his research at Columbia University, Tursun received a research fellowship of the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the 'Goelet Fellowship in Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Research' (Francis Goelet Trust, USA).
From 2012 to 2021, Tursun was a research group leader at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC) in Berlin. At the MDC's Berlin Institute for Medical Systems Biology (BIMSB) department, he continued his research with C. elegans. There, he established his group's investigation of epigenetic mechanisms with regard to gene regulation during cell reprogramming and ageing processes. At the MDC, he also began to transfer his findings to the research field of human stem cells using C. elegans.E. Kolundzict al.: FACT Sets a Barrier for Cell Fate Reprogramming in Caenorhabditis elegans and Human Cells (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S15345807183 05598?via%3Dihub) During his time at the MDC, Tursun was awarded research funds including the Marie Curie CIGMarie Curie Action CIG, European Research Council: Insight into the mechanism of cell reprogramming (https://cordis.europa.eu/article/id/209838-insight-into-the-me chanism-of- cell-reprogramming-factors/en) and the ERC-STG, endowed with 1.5 million euros, from the European Research CouncilEuropean Research Council Starting Grant Safeguarding Cell Identities: Mechanisms Counteracting Cell Fate Reprogramming (https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/637530).
 
In 2021, Baris Tursun accepted an appointment as Professor of Molecular Cell Biology of Animals at the University of Hamburg, thus forgoing an offer from the University of Münster (Wesphalian Wilhelms University). At the University of Hamburg, Tursun continues his research using C. elegans and investigates molecular mechanisms of gene regulation that play a role in cellular safeguarding mechanisms.
He reviews studies for publication in journals (including Elife, Nature Cell Biology, Cell Reports, Developmental Cell, PNAS, EMBO Journal) as well as third-party funding applications to national and international research organisations.
==Research focus==
Tursun uses the model organism C. elegans (nematode) for his research. Using genetics as well as cell and molecular biological techniques, his research group investigates epigenetic and other gene regulatory mechanisms during reprogramming of cells and organismal ageing. A variety of molecular processes, including metabolism, ensure the maintenance of cell function and health, thereby playing a central role in creating barriers to the reprogramming of cell identities. The aim of Tursun's research is to better understand the molecular nature of protective mechanisms of cells to improve cellular reprogramming.
The findings from Tursun's research using the nematode C. elegans could be useful for regenerative therapies in the future. Molecular mechanisms have already been identified that prevent the reprogramming of cells in both C. elegans and mammalian cells. Obtaining specific cell types or stem cells by reprogramming could be used in the future by medical practitioners to regenerate diseased organs or injured tissues in patients.A. Ofenbauer, B. Tursun Strategies for in vivo reprogramming. Current Opinion in Cell Biology 2019, 61, 9-15.doi:10.1016/j.ceb.2019.06.002
==Memberships==
* German Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (GBM)
* German Stem Cell Network (GSCN)
* German University Association (DHV)
Category:1974 births
Category:German biologists
Category:Professors