![\"\"](\"http:\/\/lifesciences.agu.edu.tr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/HAE-3-262x300.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Dr. Atakan Ekiz<\/strong><\/p>\n IZTECH<\/strong> Biography<\/strong><\/p>\n Dr. Atakan Ekiz is an Assistant Professor of Molecular Biology and Genetics at \u0130zmir Institute of Technology where he leads the Tumor Immunology and Bioinformatics Laboratory.\u00a0 His work combines experimental and computational approaches to understand how cancer cells evade immunity, with a particular interest in non-coding RNAs and immunotherapy resistance. Dr. Ekiz’s team has contributed to multiple studies in the field of tumor immunology, and developed open, user-friendly tools for cancer transcriptomics analysis.\u00a0 His work is supported by EMBO, T\u00dcB\u0130TAK, T\u00dcBA, and institutional grants, and he currently holds the UNESCO Chair in Biotechnology and Innovation which aims to promote sustainability in life sciences research and education.<\/p>\n Title: Investigating the Role of Long Noncoding RNAs in Tumor Immunity<\/strong><\/p>\n Abstract<\/strong><\/p>\n Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) constitute a large yet still understudied fraction of the human genome, with growing evidence that they play important roles in cancer biology and immune regulation. Despite advances in tumor immunology, the contribution of lncRNAs to tumor\u2013immune interactions and clinical outcome remains incompletely understood. In this talk, I will outline the basic principles by which lncRNAs regulate gene expression, including transcriptional, post-transcriptional, and epigenetic mechanisms, and discuss how these functions can shape immune responses in cancer.<\/p>\n Using large-scale omics datasets, we systematically identified lncRNAs associated with tumor immunity and patient survival in melanoma, an aggressive form of skin cancer. This process leveraged a new analysis platform we developed, TCGEx which enables the exploration of immune signatures, survival models, and gene\u2013lncRNA relationships. Through this approach, we narrowed down candidate lncRNAs with potential functional relevance to immune regulation. I will highlight two lncRNAs, NRAV and DANCR, that we are currently characterizing in the lab experimentally as a followup to these in silico analyses. Our data indicates that NRAV may regulate interferon response whereas DANCR could have an impact on the metastatic phenotype of melanoma cells. Together, these examples illustrate how the systematic utilization of omics data can uncover biologically meaningful lncRNAs and provide new insights into the regulation of tumor immunity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dr. Atakan Ekiz IZTECH \u0130zmir, TR Biography Dr. Atakan Ekiz is an Assistant Professor of Molecular Biology and Genetics at \u0130zmir Institute of Technology where […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-191","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/lifesciences.agu.edu.tr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/lifesciences.agu.edu.tr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/lifesciences.agu.edu.tr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lifesciences.agu.edu.tr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lifesciences.agu.edu.tr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/lifesciences.agu.edu.tr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":485,"href":"http:\/\/lifesciences.agu.edu.tr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/191\/revisions\/485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/lifesciences.agu.edu.tr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\u0130zmir, TR<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n
\n