The kick-off meeting of the “ECOSCAN” project, coordinated by Sabancı University Nanotechnology Research and Application Center (SUNUM) and supported by TÜBİTAK – NCBR (Poland), was held online on November 13, 2025. The project aims to develop carbon dots (CDs) with “upconversion” properties, synthesized using sustainable methods, as next-generation bioimaging tools that can be used in cancer diagnosis. Our part-time researcher, Assoc. Prof. Rükan Genç Altürk, who is leading the project on behalf of SUNUM, highlighted the importance of the project in terms of integrating sustainable nanomaterial synthesis into health technologies in her opening speech at the meeting. Technical discussions and evaluations were held based on the data obtained during the first six months of the project, and work was planned in line with the project schedule.
Project Consortium:
• SUNUM ( Türkiye) - Assoc. Prof. Dr. Rükan Genç Altürk - Coordinator, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Özlem Kutlu
• Adam Mickiewicz University (Poland) – Dr. Agata Szczeszak, Prof. Tomasz Grzyb
• NanoExpo (Poland) – Beata Gromadzka, Mirka Panasiuk
• Izmir Katip Celebi University ( Türkiye) – Assoc. Prof. Dr. Merve Gürsoy Bulut
• Initio Cell Biotechnology ( Türkiye) – Prof. Dr. Devrim Pesen Okvur, Dr. Aydın Öztunalı
• Mersin University ( Türkiye) – Dr. Melis Ö. Alaş Çolak (Visiting Researcher), Undergraduate and graduate fellows: Rüveyda İnan, Tahir Tüzer, Sena Sinem Tolga, Buse Ulubaş, Zeyne Tüzer
We would like to thank all our partners who contributed to this project, which combines green chemistry, biomaterials engineering, and advanced imaging technologies, and we wish them a successful collaboration process.
