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Five university students in Türkiye win first place in a cancer research competition with a new molecule designed using artificial intelligence. The molecule targets brain cancer, and the students plan to develop it further.
The group took the top prize in the Oncology 3T Competition at TEKNOFEST Southeast, held in Sanliurfa. TEKNOFEST is a technology festival run by Türkiye's Industry and Technology Ministry and the T3 Foundation. It ended on its final day at GAP Airport in Sanliurfa.
More than 400 teams applied. The students defended their project in Sanliurfa and presented a poster to a jury of eight members.
The Can Saglik Foundation supports the Oncology 3T Competition, which takes place every year on a different cancer topic. This year's topic was brain cancer. The same group took part last year with a lung cancer project and received the "Promising Innovative Project" award.
The team, which competed as the Cortera Team, includes students from chemistry, chemical engineering, industrial engineering, medicine and molecular biology and genetics.
Assoc. Prof. Berat Ilhan Ceylan of the Inorganic Chemistry Department at Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa's Faculty of Engineering advised the group.
Ceylan said the team was formed with support from Sahinbey Municipality, Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa, Yildiz Technical University and Koc University.
Sinem Tas, a chemical engineering and industrial engineering student on the team, said the project targets glioblastoma, an aggressive type of brain cancer.
The students are developing an AI-supported method based on nanoparticles that aims at more than one mechanism of the disease.
According to Tas, the team uses deep learning methods to identify suitable drug combinations. The drugs are then carried inside nanoparticles. The surface of the nanoparticles is coated with proteins to help them cross the blood-brain barrier.
Tas said laboratory work to validate the project is underway. The stated goal is a new approach to preventing the spread of brain tumors. No laboratory results or timeline for clinical testing have been shared.
Ceylan said the students worked in the laboratory through weekends. "We designed a brand-new AI-supported molecule in the field of brain cancer and want to take it further," he said. He added that he dedicated the project to Dr. Busra Kaya, who died of cancer.
Ceylan also said TEKNOFEST gives young people an academic perspective and that the field needs researchers who can use AI and work in laboratories. Tas said the months of work behind the project had been rewarded and that the team will continue its research.
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