The Sabri Ülker Foundation Science Award Has Found Its Recipient

The Sabri Ülker Foundation Science Award, one of the most prestigious awards in the scientific world, has found its new recipient. This year's seventh edition of the award was won by Assoc. Prof. Nilay Yapıcı, Associate Professor in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior at Cornell University and Nancy & Peter Meinig Family Investigator. Yapıcı earned the award for her research on "How the Nervous System Controls Eating Drive and Metabolism." At the ceremony held in Istanbul, Assoc. Prof. Nilay Yapıcı's award was presented by Dr. Çetin Ali Dönmez, Vice Minister of Industry and Technology of the Republic of Turkey; Ali Ülker, Chairman of the Board of Yıldız Holding; Prof. Dr. Gökhan Hotamışlıgil, Director of the Harvard Sabri Ülker Center; and Dr. Talat İçöz, President of the Sabri Ülker Foundation. The organization, which aims to promote Turkey's progress in its scientific journey and rewards projects by young researchers in the areas of nutrition, food and metabolism, was attended by numerous important figures from science, academia and business.

Investigating neural networks that control food intake in the brain

Assoc. Prof. Nilay Yapıcı, whose work focuses on the biology of hunger, is investigating how neural networks that control food intake in the brain function. In her laboratory experiments, Assoc. Prof. Yapıcı is conducting research aimed at identifying nerve cells that direct food intake decisions in the brain and understanding how the activity of these cells changes during the desire to eat. These studies aim particularly to elucidate the mechanism that leads to the excessive consumption of certain foods. Dr. Yapıcı's laboratory focuses on how animals integrate their physiological states with external stimuli to make behavioral decisions and how these decisions are regulated by organisms. Additionally, recent research projects conducted in the laboratory investigate how taste perception and hunger sensation function at the levels of genes, cells and neural networks.

'I hope my work will contribute to preventing obesity'

Assoc. Prof. Nilay Yapıcı, member of the Department of Neurobiology and Behavioral Sciences at Cornell University, made the following statement:

"Our research focuses on providing new and interesting data in the long term regarding how the brain controls food intake. I hope that our scientific work will contribute to preventing eating disorders and particularly obesity. I am very pleased to have been deemed worthy of the Sabri Ülker Science Award. I extend my deepest thanks to everyone."

"Our focus is contributing to the construction of a healthy society and a healthy future"

Underlining the importance given to science by Yıldız Holding, Ali Ülker, Chairman of the Board of Yıldız Holding, expressed that "As both a Foundation and a Holding, our focus is contributing to the construction of a healthy society and a healthy future." Ali Ülker continued his remarks as follows: "We continue on the inspiring path of our late founder Sabri Ülker, who 70 years ago signed many innovative principles driven by his belief in science. We view as our greatest mission the further flourishing of science in Turkey, its reaching broader populations, and the support of our young scientists who are unable to continue their scientific work due to various difficulties. Of course, we are also aware that the mission we have undertaken carries serious responsibility… Our Turkish scientists, who contribute to the scientific world each passing year with new studies and discoveries, are our greatest strength and motivation in this journey."

Recalling that the Sabri Ülker Foundation has continued its work since its establishment in 2009 to contribute to the future of public health, Sabri Ülker Foundation General Secretary Selen Tokcan provided information about the foundation's 2023 plans.

Tokcan spoke as follows: "New projects await us in the coming period. 2023 will be a year in which we will host Nobel Prize-winning speakers in our country and present to the public research that will resonate in the fields of genetics and metabolism in the coming years… The Metabolism and Life Symposium, which we will organize under the roof of the Harvard Sabri Ülker Center continuing its activities under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Gökhan Hotamışlıgil, will host thousands of scientists in Turkey on 9-10 May 2023 under the auspices of our Foundation. If we can provide some support to young scientists for the future of public health, this is a source of great pride for us. I heartily congratulate Assoc. Prof. Nilay Yapıcı, this year's Science Award winner, for her achievements. I hope that together we will see much healthier futures in the light of science."

"Our young scientists are achieving incredible success"

Prof. Dr. Gökhan Hotamışlıgil, Director of the Harvard Sabri Ülker Center and Chairman of the Sabri Ülker Science Award Jury, expressed that "I extend my thanks to the Ülker family and the Sabri Ülker Foundation for their contributions to the development and strengthening of our scientific capacity within a universal framework." Hotamışlıgil continued his remarks as follows: "This is a long-term vision. But I believe with all my heart that we will achieve it step by step. The young scientists who have won the Science Award are already achieving incredible success. Nilay Yapıcı, this year's Science Award winner, is one of these valuable and young minds. First, I heartily congratulate her. I follow with great admiration and enthusiasm the research that Nilay Yapıcı is conducting on taste and eating mechanisms in the human brain. As the Harvard Sabri Ülker Center, our focus is also on metabolic diseases and obesity. I am confident that through collaborations that can be implemented in this direction, our young scientists will achieve many new successes that will make their mark in the scientific world."