Professor Erdal Karaoz is the Head of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research Therapy Center at the Liv Hospital in Istanbul. He is also one of Turkey’s top published researchers in the field of Stem Cell therapy, and the founder of Turkey’s first corporate R&D centre in its field.
Education and Background
Professor Erdal Karaoz first became a Medical doctor in 1989, after graduating from Dicle University’s Faculty of Medicine. He obtained his PhD in Histology and Embryology at Gazi University in 1994.
After graduating, he continued his training in Stem cell and Gene therapy within Turkey. In 2005, he became a fellow at the Harvard Medical School’s Joslin Diabetes Centre.
Research and Practice Focus
Professor Karaoz’s clinical practice deals primarily with tailor-made oncological treatments. These encompass a series of stem cell-based interventions and gene therapy, which have applications for oncology, endocrinology, and infectious disease treatments alike.
As a researcher, he has also done extensive work in embryonic stem cell and islet transplantation during his time at the Joslin Diabetes Centre. He also founded the Stem Cell and Gene Therapy Research and Application Center, which was Turkey’s first private R&D firm devoted to stem cell therapy.
As the founder and chairman of the Stem Cell department at the KOU Health Sciences Institute, he leads a research team that is currently working on:
- Tissue Engineering
- Endometrium-Embryo Co-culture
- Mesenchymal stem cell therapy for diabetes and auto-immune conditions
- Cellular regeneration for spinal injury, encephalitis, and head trauma survivors
- Stem-cell-based therapy for COVID-19 survivors
Professional Memberships and Relationships
As head of the Kocaeli University Stem Cell and Gene Therapies R&D Center, Prof. Karaoz has forged close-knit relationships between private biomedical firms and the Turkish academic establishment. He also sits on the advisory board of nine different international journals.
