Students must pass exams in 4 topics. Topics must be selected such that two of them are from one subject area and two of them could be from the remaining two subject areas or one of each*. Main subjects and the topics are listed below.
*One of the topics may be selected from the topics of other PhD programs with the approval of the student's adviser.

Subject areas and topics:

Plant Biotechnology:

1. Plant biotechnology - Selim Çetiner
2. Plant physiology - Levent Öztürk

 

Molecular Biology

1. Cell biology - Cavit Ağca
2. Immunology - Tunç Akkoç
3. Molecular biology and biochemistry - Nur Mustafaoğlu and Hüveyda Başağa
4. Gene regulation and disease - Cavit Ağca
5. Neurobiology - Nur Mustafaoğlu

 

Bioinformatics

1. Computational biology - Ogün Adebali and Öznur Taştan
2. Structural biology - Zehra Sayers and Canan Atılgan
3. Systems Biology - Christopher Mayack

 

Bioengineering:

1. Biosensors - Nur Mustafaoğlu
2. Tissue engineering - Nur Mustafaoğlu
3. Genetic Engineering - Christopher Mayack

 

The faculty members of the MBGB program suggest that the following are appropriate study subjects/references for these exams. If a resource is not indicated please consult with a faculty member whos research is similar to the subject in question or the graduate area advisor.

• Plant biotechnology exam:
  Textbook: Plant Biotechnology The genetic manipulation of plants Second Edition Adrian Slater, Nigel Scott, and Mark Fowler ISBN: 9780199282616 

 

• Plant physiology exam:
  Textbook: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of Plants, 2nd Edition Bob B. Buchanan, Wilhelm Gruissem, Russell L. Jones ISBN: 978-0-470-71421-8
  • Chapter 1 Membrane Structure and Membranous Organelles
  • Chapter 3 Membrane Transport
  • Chapter 22 Responses to Abiotic Stress
  • Chapter 23 Mineral Nutrient Acquisition, Transport, and Utilization

   

• Cell biology exam:
  Textbook: Molecular Biology of The Cell
  • Chapters 10 - 19

   

• Immunology and signal transduction exam:
  Textbook: Janeway's Immunobiology (9th Ed), (or similar) with particular emphasis on the following chapters and subjects:
  
  • Chapters 1-10.

   

• Molecular biology and biochemistry exam
  

  Biochemistry;

  • Amino acids, peptides, and proteins, their structure and function
  • Enzymes
  • Carbohydrates and lipids and nucleic acids (their structures and functions)
  • Nucleic acids and their functions
  • Membranes and transport
  • Bioenergetics and metabolism (electron transport chain and ox phosphorylation)

  Molecular Biology;

  • Genetic materials and structures
  • Central Dogma: DNA Replication Transcription, Translation
  • Mutability and Repair of DNA
  • Regulation of gene expression
  • Principles of methods used in molecular biology

  Textbook: Any recent biochemistry or molecular biology textbook and recent articles from literature. Students will be asked to comment on an article from literature in terms of hypothesis, methodology used and suggestions for furthering the research.

  Suggested Textbooks:

  - Biosensors: Essential, Gennady Evtugyn, Springer ISBN 978-3-642-40241-8
  - Handbook of Immunoassay Technologies by Sandeep K. Vashist and John H.T. Loung ISBN 978-0-12-811762-0

   

• Molecular medicine exam
  Textbook: The Biology of Cancer (Weinberg)
  • Chapter 2: Nature of Cancer
  • Chapter 11: Multi-step Tumorigenesis
  • Chapter 14: Moving out: Invasion and Metastasis

   

• Computational biology exam:
  Textbook:
  
  • Biological sequence analysis. Probabilistic models of proteins and nucleic acids, edited by R. Durbin, S. Eddy, A. Krogh, and G. Mitchinson. 1998. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  • Altuna Akalın, Computational Genomics with R, https://compgenomr.github.io/book/stats.html (Not the coding part but the concepts)

   

• Structural biology exam:
  Textbooks:
  
  • Introduction to Protein Structure Branden & Tooze
  • Crystallography Made Crystal Clear: A Guide for Users of Macromolecular Models, Gale Rhodes
  • Protein Structure and Function, Gregory Petsko

   

• Integrative Biology exam
  • Computational Systems Biology
    Authors: Andres Kriete and Roland Eils
    Publisher ‏ : ‎ Academic Press; 1st edition (October 31, 2005)
    Language ‏ : ‎ English
    Paperback ‏ : ‎ 424 pages
    ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1493300075
    ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1493300075

   

• Animal Physiology exam:
  Textbook:
  • Animal Physiology 4th Edition
    by Richard W. Hill (Author), Gordon A. Wyse (Author), Margaret Anderson (Author)
    Publisher: Sinauer Associates is an imprint of Oxford University Press; 4th edition (September 13, 2016)
    Language: English
    Loose Leaf: 828 pages
    ISBN-10: 1605355941
    ISBN-13: 978-1605355948

   

• Animal Behavior exam:
  Textbook:
  • Animal Behavior
    2nd Edition
    Authors: Michael Breed Janice Moore
    eBook ISBN: 9780128016831
    Paperback ISBN: 9780128015322
    Imprint: Academic Press
    Published Date: 1st February 2015
    Page Count: 552

   

• Integrative Organismal Biology exam:
  Textbook:
  • Editor(s): Lynn B. Martin Cameron K. Ghalambor H. Arthur Woods
    First published:14 November 2014
    Print ISBN:9781118398784 |Online ISBN:9781118398814 |DOI:10.1002/9781118398814
    Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc

   

• Neurobiology exam:
  Textbook:
  • From Neuron to Brain by Author A. Robert Martin, David A. Brown, Mathew E. Diamond, Antonino Cattaneo, Francisco F. De-Miguel, and Foreword by John Nicholls ISBN: 9781605354392

   

• Biosensors exam:
  

  Students are responsible for current literature on biosensors. Please identify 15 research articles (only 3 review articles may be included) published in the last 5 years and share them with the professor prior to the exam.

   

  Suggested Textbooks:

  • Biosensors: Essential, Gennady Evtugyn, Springer ISBN 978-3-642-40241-8
  • Handbook of Immunoassay Technologies by Sandeep K. Vashist and John H.T. Loung ISBN 978-0-12-811762-0

   

• Tissue Engineering exam:
  Textbook:
  • Principles of Tissue Engineering by Robert Lanza, Robert Langer, Joseph Vacanti eBook ISBN: 9780128214015, Hardcover ISBN: 9780128184226

   

• Genetic Engineering exam:
  Textbook:
  • An Introduction to Genetic Engineering 3rd Edition by Desmond S. T. Nicholl (Author), Publisher : Cambridge University Press; 3rd edition (June 1, 2008)
    Language : English
    Paperback : 347 pages
    ISBN-10 : 0521615216
    ISBN-13 : 978-0521615211

   

• Gene regulation and disease exam:
  TBA