I coordinate microphysiological systems (MPS)-based projects for academic and commercial research, focusing on the development of advanced MPS and organ-on-a-chip models to study food, the microbiome and host interactions.

My responsibilities include training and supervising staff and students, liaising with technical teams, suppliers and collaborators, and managing access to human samples and organoid generation in line with clinical and ethical requirements.

I hold a PhD from the Technical University of Munich, where I developed and applied human and mouse organoid-based models to investigate neuroimmune interactions in pancreatic cancer. My previous work in autoimmune diseases, multiple sclerosis, transplantation immunology and vaccine development has given me broad expertise in molecular and cellular biology as well as translational research.

Key publications

1. Reyes, C. M., Yurteri, Ü., Friess, H., & Demir, I. E. (2020). Future directions of neoadjuvant therapy in pancreatic cancer. Oncoscience, 7(7-8), 44. doi: 10.18632/oncoscience.506.

2. Besikcioglu, H. E., Yurteri, Ü., Munkhbaatar, E., Ye, L., Zhang, F., Moretti, A., … & Demir, I. E. (2021). Innervated mouse pancreas organoids as an ex vivo model to study pancreatic neuropathy in pancreatic cancer. STAR protocols, 2(4), 100935. doi: 10.1016/j.xpro.2021.100935.

3. Yurteri, Ü., Çifcibaşı, K., Friess, H., Ceyhan, G. O., Istvanffy, R., & Demir, I. E. (2022). Schwann cells in peripheral cancers: bystanders or promoters?. Advanced Biology, 6(9), 2200033. doi: 10.1002/adbi.202200033.

4. Wang, X., Istvanffy, R., Ye, L., Teller, S., Laschinger, M., Diakopoulos, K. N., Yurteri, Ü… & Demir, I. E. (2023). Phenotype screens of murine pancreatic cancer identify a Tgf-α-Ccl2-paxillin axis driving human-like neural invasion. The Journal of Clinical Investigation, 133(21). doi: 10.1172/JCI166333.

5. Beşikcioğlu, H. E., Yurteri, Ü., Ye, L., Zhang, F., Moretti, A., Gürcinar, I. H., … & Demir, I. E. (2024). Protocol for whole-mount immunofluorescence staining of ECM gel-embedded innervated pancreatic organoids. STAR protocols, 5(2), 103132. doi: 10.1016/j.xpro.2024.