Burcin Ikiz

I have over ten years of research experience in neurodegenerative diseases. My Ph.D. thesis at Columbia University focused on unraveling the molecular mechanisms underlying neurodegeneration involved in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). For my postdoc at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, I initiated and led motor neuron disease research efforts and generated new animal models for ALS, which to this day are used by the company for therapeutic studies. Additionally, in the last four years, I have worked with multiple biotech startups (Verge Genomics, RowAnalytics, etc.) aiming to find therapeutic targets for neurodegenerative diseases. My work for them included preclinical development, therapeutic target selection, analysis and interpretation of medical and biological data, building and managing scientific collaborations, bridging the knowledge gap between disease biology and bioinformatics, and advising on business and experimental strategy.