The 3rd Information Day of the SciREACT project, which is carried out in partnership with Turkey and the European Union, was held online on October 30, 2024. During the event, innovative solutions provided by computational sciences in vaccine and drug development processes in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and techniques used to accelerate these processes were discussed.
The program brought together expert scientists from various universities and research institutions in Turkey.
The opening speech of the program was delivered by Prof. Dr. Burcu Özsoy from TÜBİTAK Marmara Research Center. Prof. Dr. Özsoy emphasized the importance of the SciREACT project, which is carried out with the support of Turkey and the European Union, in developing scientific solutions against COVID-19 and summarized the contributions of the project to the world of science.
In the first session, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hilal Yazıcı Malkoçoğlu made a presentation titled "COVID-19 Project Processes at TÜBİTAK MAM" and shared detailed information about the projects carried out within TÜBİTAK MAM and their contributions to the COVID-19 process. Yazıcı emphasized the contributions of TÜBİTAK's scientific infrastructure and research processes in the fight against the pandemic.
Following this, Prof. Dr. Ateş Kara, Head of TÜSEB Vaccine Institute and Head of TÜSEB Biotechnology Institute, delivered the speech titled "Priorities in Vaccine and Drug Development". In this session, which vaccine development methods are prioritized in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and how biotechnology studies contribute to the process were discussed.
In the third session, Prof. Dr. Serdar Durdağı from Bahçeşehir University discussed the importance of modeling and simulation studies in pandemics with his speech titled "The Importance of Molecular Modeling and Simulation Studies in Pandemics". Durdağ explained how molecular modeling accelerates vaccine and drug development processes and the role of simulation studies in increasing accuracy.
In his presentation titled "Data Analytics Methods in Drug Development", Prof. Dr. Mehmet Gönen from Koç University examined the contributions of big data and data analytics techniques to drug development processes. Gönen drew attention to how the information obtained through data analytics optimizes drug development processes.
Prof. Dr. Özlem Keskin from Koç University presented "Protein-protein interfaces: Drug Repositioning in the Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK Signaling Pathway". Keskin explained how protein-protein interfaces offer an effective pathway in the drug development process and how the Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK signaling pathway can be used in drug repositioning studies against COVID-19.
Then, Dr. Özge Sensoy from Medipol University, in her presentation titled "Computational Modulation of Protein Dynamics for Therapeutic Purposes", explained how studies on protein dynamics for therapeutic applications are effective in developing new strategies to fight diseases.
Dr. Ezgi Karaca Erkeç from Izmir Biomedicine and Genome Center presented "Targeting SARS-CoV-2 Carrier Proteins with Computational Methods" and provided details on how computational methods targeting the carrier proteins of SARS-CoV-2 virus can be used in the fight against the virus in pandemics.
Finally, Shaga Ashraf from Trustlife shared the role of current computational approaches and new technologies in drug development processes in his speech titled "Current Methods in Computational Approaches for Drug Development". Ashraf emphasized the importance of speed and accuracy in drug development processes thanks to computational approaches.
In the evaluation session following the speeches at the event, participants focused on the advantages of computational methods in vaccine and drug development processes and how they can further contribute to improving these processes.
