PUCLICATIONS LAB MEMBERS LAB PICTURES COURSES ALUMNI RESEARCH INTEREST Oxidative stress seems to be the leading cause of cellular damage and aging. Organisms have enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant defense systems to escape from the deleterious effects of oxidative conditions. Since most organisms utilize oxygen to make ATP, they produce reactive oxygen species as side products of their metabolism, and they all have robust antioxidant defense systems which are conserved well between different species. Among these antioxidant genes, we try to find the ones that are important for cellular aging and longevity, and regulation of human p53 tumor suppressor gene. Also using awesome power of yeast genetics, we are in the process of characterizing genetic mechanisms that underlie boron transport and utilization in yeast. Beneficial effects of boron or mechanisms of its toxicity have not been studied well. Since Turkey has the largest natural boron resources in the world, we decided to study the biochemical & genetic characterization of boron. We identified and characterized ATR1 gene as a boron efflux transporter. Currently we are using genomic and proteomic approaches to identify additional genes that might be important in boron metabolism or toxicity. Our projects are being supported by the State Planning Organization (DPT), Scientific and Technical Research Council of the Turkish Republic (TUBITAK), and Turkish Academy of Sciences (TUBA). We are also part (MC member) of COST Action TD0901, HypoxiaNet