Bilkent alumnus Assoc. Prof. Kıvanç Birsoy was awarded the Vehbi Koç Prize in the field of health for his biomedical research on the energy and nutrient utilization mechanisms of cancer cells. Through these studies, Dr. Birsoy aims to understand the role of metabolism in cancer and transform the obtained data into innovative treatment strategies. He is currently a faculty member at Rockefeller University.
After graduating from the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics (MBG) in 2004, Dr. Birsoy started his PhD at Rockefeller University where he studied fat cell development in Jeffrey Friedman’s lab. He continued his postdoctoral research on metabolism at MIT, uncovering the crucial role of mitochondria in cancer. Today, as the Head of the Laboratory of Metabolic Regulation and Genetics at Rockefeller, he explores, with his research group, how targeting metabolic changes in tumors could lead to new cancer therapies.
The Vehbi Koç Award is given annually in the fields of education, health and culture to individuals or organizations that have made significant contributions to society. In the field of health, Bilkent MBG received this prize in 2004 as well.