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CV
Tolga Soykan, PhD
soykantolga@gmail.com
linkedin.com/in/tolgasoykan
SUMMARY
• Passionate, diligent and innovative
scientist with 10+ years of experience in molecular neurobiology, biochemistry
and cell biology, strong expertise in assay development and state-of-the-art
microscopy on cellular models.
• Highly skilled in information
management. Ability to conceptualize, design, execute, analyze, interpret and
document research, as demonstrated by 3 first-author and 2 last-author
publications in top-tier journals. Strong grasp of neuronal cell biology
literature as evidenced by 5 review articles published in prestigious journals.
• Experienced in managing multiple
projects simultaneously and mentoring junior scientists as evidenced by direct
supervision of 3 PhD students and more than 6 MSc and BSc students for 3 to
12-month periods.
EXPERIENCE
Image Analysis Staff Scientist
Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie (May 2023 – present)
• Helping scientists from multiple disciplines with their microscopy experiments and image analysis problems.
•
Developing and maintaining image analysis pipelines and automated scripts.
•
Offering beginner and advanced workshops on image processing, quantitative image analysis and biostatistics.
Postdoctoral
Researcher
Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie (Jul 2014 – April 2023)
• Co-supervised two PhD projects that
investigated the role of neuronal endosomes and actin cytoskeleton in synaptic transmission. Published
in EMBO Journal and eLife as a last author (Liu et al., 2022 & Oevel et al., 2024).
• Developed a novel cellular assay
combining live microscopy and local perfusion setup to study ultrafast
endocytosis of synaptic vesicles. Performed a pharmacological screen on
cultured neurons to investigate the role of actin cytoskeleton in synaptic
vesicle endocytosis dynamics using high-resolution microscopy techniques.
Published in Neuron (Soykan et al., 2017).
• Helped image analysts to develop an
easy-to-use fully open-source workflow that enables automated image and data
analysis of synaptic activity in cultured neurons. Published in Frontiers in
Computer Science (Schmied et al., 2021).
• Lectured MSc students on
"Synaptic Transmission and Synaptic Vesicle Recycling".
• Contributed to acquisition of a
yearly grant of 120K Euros for 6 years.
Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine (Jun 2011 – May 2014)
• Collaborated with structural biologists to solve the
3D structure of a synaptic protein. Carried out various cell-based and
biochemical assays. Published in EMBO Journal and Biochemical Journal (Soykan,
et al., 2014), (Poulopoulos*, Soykan*, et al,. 2012).
• Instructed PhD students in preparing primary
neuronal cultures from mouse models.
PhD Student
Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine (Oct 2007 – May 2011)
• Conceptualized and designed my own project as a PhD
applicant. Developed a cell-based assay combined with confocal microscopy to
investigate synapse formation. Published research in top journals such as
Neuron and PNAS.
• Tutored Neuroscience MSc students on "Signal
Transduction" and "Cell Adhesion" lectures.
EDUCATION
University
of Göttingen, PhD, Molecular Biology 2007 – 2011
University
of Göttingen, MSc/PhD Program, Molecular Biology, 2006-2007
Sabanci
University, BSc, Biological Sciences and Bioengineering (Major), Chemistry
(Minor), 2002-2006
LANGUAGES
Turkish (Native) – English
(Fluent) – German (Advanced)