AutumnOLYMPIAD
COLLECTION
RESEARCHED WITH AUTUMN
AS

Ayşe Selma Çizmeci

Dr. Öğr. Üyesi (Assist. Prof.), Medical Microbiology — Hamidiye International Faculty of Medicine, University of Health Sciences (SBU), Istanbul; IMO 1989 Bronze medalist for Türkiye
University of Health Sciences (Sağlık Bilimleri Üniversitesi) — Hamidiye International Faculty of Medicine · Istanbul, Türkiye · academic
sbe.sbu.edu.truluslaritip.sbu.edu.trsbe.sbu.edu.trbilimolimpiyatlari.tubitak.gov.tr
Heads Medical Microbiology At SBU Hamidiye International Faculty Of Medicine (Istanbul).Bronze Medal, IMO 1989 (Türkiye).First-author Peer-reviewed Work On p21Cip1 And CD4+ T-cell Anergy (Immunology, 2009).PhD University Of Arkansas; Prior Faculty At UA Pine Bluff (2012-2020).

Academic and physician (MD, PhD) specialising in medical microbiology and immunology. Former IMO Bronze medalist for Türkiye (1989). Research covers CD4+ T-cell anergy and p21Cip1, the antibacterial/anticancer effects of Nigella sativa and thymoquinone, and, during 2020, SARS-CoV-2 protease/nucleocapsid protein work. Currently heads Medical Microbiology at SBU's Hamidiye International Faculty of Medicine and serves on its medical-education committees.

Ayşe Selma Çizmeci is a Turkish physician-scientist and Assistant Professor (Dr. Öğr. Üyesi) of Medical Microbiology at the University of Health Sciences (Sağlık Bilimleri Üniversitesi), Hamidiye International Faculty of Medicine in Istanbul, where she heads the Medical Microbiology Department. She began her scientific life as a mathematics prodigy: she won a Bronze Medal representing Türkiye at the 30th International Mathematical Olympiad (Braunschweig, 1989) scoring 19/42. She then studied medicine (Hacettepe University 1989-1993, then Istanbul University), earned an MS at Yeshiva University's Albert Einstein College of Medicine and a PhD in Microbiology & Immunology at the University of Arkansas (2002-2006) under Kathleen M. Gilbert, publishing under the surname Dağtaş on p21Cip1-mediated CD4+ T-cell anergy. She spent 2012-2020 on the biology faculty of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff before returning to Türkiye in 2020, working briefly on SARS-CoV-2 proteins at TÜBİTAK MAM and joining SBU.

Details
LocationIstanbul, Türkiye
Company sitesbu.edu.tr
UniversityUniversity of Arkansas (PhD); Hacettepe University (MD); Istanbul University (MD)
Medical MicrobiologyImmunologyCD4 T-cell biologyp21Cip1BacteriologySARS-CoV-2 virologyCell biologyMicrobiologyMedical educationNigella sativa / thymoquinone pharmacology
Notes
  • Won a Bronze Medal for Türkiye at the 30th International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO 1989, Braunschweig, West Germany), scoring 19 points (Q1-Q6: 2,5,0,7,0,5) and ranking 134= overall — a rare math-olympiad credential that predates her entirely separate career in medicine and immunology.Jul 1989
  • Published and taught earlier under the surname Dağtaş (university email alias [contact omitted]), so her CV output — e.g. conference papers authored as 'DAĞTAŞ AYŞE SELMA' 2005-2017 with Kathleen M. Gilbert at University of Arkansas — sits under a different name than her current profile; a name-based search misses half her record.2024
  • Heads the Medical Microbiology Department (Başkan) at SBU Hamidiye International Faculty of Medicine and sits on multiple education committees (curriculum coordinators, horizontal-transfer adaptation, medical-education commissions) — her current institutional role is administrative as much as research.2024
  • Served as a visiting/bursary researcher at TÜBİTAK Marmara Research Institute in 2020 cloning and producing SARS-CoV-2 main protease and nucleocapsid proteins — a direct COVID-19 pivot during the pandemic.2020
  • PhD (2002-2006, University of Arkansas) dissertation 'THE ROLE OF p21Cip1 IN N-BUTYRATE-INDUCED CD4 T CELL TOLERANCE' under Kathleen Gilbert; the same p21Cip1/CD4 T-cell anergy theme runs through her 2005-2017 conference abstracts, showing a long-running single research thread across her US and Turkish posts.2006
  • Held an NIH-Arkansas INBRE Pilot Study Grant (2016-2017, PI) on thymoquinone and Nigella sativa extracts against oral cancer cells — her US-era funding anchor.2016
  • Listed in TÜBİTAK's International Science Olympiad alumni register (1989 IMO, Bronze) — the official national record that ties the IMO contestant identity to her name.1989
  • Two undergraduate medical degrees on her CV (Hacettepe Tıp 1989-1993, full scholarship, English; İstanbul Tıp 1993-1996) straddle the years right after her 1989 IMO medal — the olympiad year coincides with her starting medical school.1996

Competition record

Türkiye · IMO

1989 · Bronze · Rank 134