A BAU Faculty Member Found Remedy Against AIDS and Cancer

Associate Prof. Dr. Serdar Durdağı of Bahçeşehir University Faculty of Medicine continues his work for a while in Germany and Canada; he is working on a medicine that may be an effective solution for the diseases of AIDS and cancer.

The potential medicine, to be Turkey’s first “national medicine,” is scheduled to be launched in 2023 on the market.

DURDAĞI WILL CONTINUE HIS RESEARCH IN BAU

Having worked for almost 10 years on Carbon 60 and its analogues, and having discovered that they may be effective in the prevention of diseases, Durağı will continue his research beginning next year in the Faculty of Medicine at Bahçeşehir University. Launched with the support of the European Union, research groups from the United States, Canada, Germany, Italy and Greece are taking part of the project.

The molecule Carbon 60, used previously as a nanomaterial, is now being tested for cancer and HIV treatment by Dr. Durdağı; He has had a positive result in blocking the HIV-1 protease enzyme. This result has allowed Dr. Durdağı to secure scientific solution partnerships and financial support from different countries, and to develop different molecules using simulation techniques.

BAU STUDENTS WILL ALSO WORK IN THE PROJECT

Dr. Durdağı, in giving his views, says that the medicine, which is in biological testing phase, hasn’t been yet been tested on animals and people. He gives the following information:

“As a result of in silico screening and biological testing we saw that the molecule is effective on the HIV-1 protease enzyme. After publishing our studies in scientific journals of the American Chemical Society (ACS), we attracted the attention of other Scientists in the world working on this issue. By using different techniques we are able to examine the medicine-receptor interactions with computer simulations and we can gain insight into molecular mechanisms of the candidate medicine. Biological testing of the molecule is made in Italy. We are in the beginning of the work and it’s too early to say anything definite. The next steps will my experiment run in Turkey. I would like include in the project the students of Bahçeşehir University Faculty of Medicine. "