The 4th Information Day of the Scientific Response to COVID-19 (SciREACT) Project, carried out jointly by Turkey and the European Union, was held online on December 16, 2024. During the event, the role of TÜBİTAK Marmara Research Center (MAM) in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and the researches carried out in this process, the solutions developed and the products implemented were discussed.
The program brought together expert scientists and industry representatives who collaborated with TÜBİTAK MAM in this process.
The opening speech of the program was delivered by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Özgen Ercan, Acting Vice President of TÜBİTAK Marmara Research Center. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ercan drew attention to the work carried out by TÜBİTAK MAM against the pandemic and emphasized the importance of the SciREACT Project carried out with the support of Turkey and the European Union.
In the first session of the program, Prof. Dr. Duygu Özel Demiralp, Head of TÜSEB Biotechnology Institute, explained the contributions of genome studies against the pandemic in her presentation titled "Host Genome Approach to COVID-19 Pandemic with Turkey Genome Project". Then, Prof. Dr. Ateş Kara, Head of TÜSEB Vaccine Institute, shared the innovations and priorities in COVID-19 vaccine development processes with his speech titled "Vaccines in the Future".
Following her presentation titled "Scientific Response to COVID-19 (SciREACT): Project Processes and Strategic Goals", TÜBİTAK MAM Biotechnology Research Group Leader and Project Coordinator Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hilal Yazıcı Malkoçoğlu discussed in detail the contributions of the projects carried out within TÜBİTAK MAM to the COVID-19 process. Yazıcı emphasized the critical role of the center's scientific infrastructure, strategic approaches and research processes in the fight against the pandemic.
In the event, details of vaccine and drug development studies, protective mask production processes, development of propolis-based products and monoclonal antibody studies carried out within the scope of TÜBİTAK MAM's projects in the fight against COVID-19 were also shared. In the following sessions of the program, research on the molecular characterization of SARS-CoV-2 variants in particular,
Information on antiviral efficacy studies and vaccine and drug efficacy tests conducted at BSL-3 level were shared.
In the evaluation session following the speeches at the event, participants discussed the impact of TÜBİTAK MAM's projects in the fight against COVID-19, the contributions of these projects to health technologies and product development processes, and how to further improve the work in this field. Participants had the opportunity to get to know TÜBİTAK MAM's contributions and scientific infrastructure in the fight against COVID-19 once again.
