Istınye University continues to attract international attention with its efforts to discover and support scientific talent at a young age. Under the leadership of Vice Rector Prof. Dr. Bestami Özkaya and coordinated by Öznur Koçak from the Project Office, the summer internship program provided high school students with university-level research experience, yielding significant scientific outputs.
After an application and rigorous selection process, highly talented students were chosen to participate in active research projects in the fields of biotechnology, immunology, and molecular biology in the laboratories of Prof. Dr. Furkan Ayaz and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Esra Aydemir. By participating in real laboratory processes, students gained direct experience in experimental design, data analysis, bioinformatics applications, and laboratory ethics.
One of the most notable outcomes of this intensive scientific program was that the results of the experiments conducted by the students were transformed into scientific publications submitted to international, prestigious, peer-reviewed journals. These articles, currently under review, are considered a significant achievement for work conducted at the high school level.
The program was not limited to laboratory work. Comprehensive workshops organized in the fields of immunology, biotechnology, and bioinformatics advanced the students’ scientific awareness and technical proficiency to a higher level.
Following their summer internship, students who continued their scientific collaboration successfully passed the first stage of the Conrad Challenge, one of the world’s leading science and technology competitions, under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Ayaz, and are currently continuing their work for the second stage.
Istınye University continues to play a pioneering role in Turkey with this model, which aims to bring “bright minds” at the high school level into the world of science. These young researchers, who are directed towards science at an early age, are being trained to represent the country on both national and international platforms.
