Our team

Co-founder, Chief Executive Officer

Ozgur Delikanli is a New York-based entrepreneur, businessman and investor. He holds B.S. in Engineering and M.A. Economics degrees. Ozgur believes that future is in life sciences. He is using his business  expertise to oversee Neuron D’s business and business development models. He is constantly searching and communicating with new markets and innovative approaches.  

Co-founder, Scientific Advisor, Neuroscience

Caghan Kizil is a geneticist and neuroscientist. He is an Associate Professor at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, USA., His research focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms of neurodegenerative pathology and neuroregeneration in the nervous system. He received several awards including Helmholtz Young Investigator Award, Helmholtz Validation Funds of the President's Initiative, Innovation-to-Application Award, and Columbia University Schaefer Research Scholars Award. He was the founding CEO of Neuron D from 2019 to 2022. 

Co-founder, Scientific Advisor, Material Sciences

Carsten Werner is a professor for Biofunctional Polymer Materials at the Technische Universität Dresden, Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden and directs the Biomaterials program at the Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden/Max Bergmann Center of Biomaterials Dresden (Germany). His research aims at recapitulating functionalities of living matter in engineered polymer materials and includes studies on electrosurface phenomena, hemocompatibility of biomaterials and cell-instructive materials platforms for regenerative therapies and tissue models.

Co-founder

Uwe Freudenberg is a group leader for Matrix Engineering at the Institute of Biofunctional Polymer Materials at the Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden, Germany (IPF). He received his doctoral degree (Dr.-Ing.) from the Faculty of Mechanical Science and Engineering at the Technische Universität Dresden in 2007. His current research focuses on the development of multifunctional polymer materials for biomedical applications with special emphasis on GAG-based hydrogels.

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R&D Associate, Neuroscience

Stanislava  Popova received her PhD degree from the Faculty of Medicine  "Carl Gustav Carus" at the Technische Universität Dresden and performed her postdoctoral research in German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE). Her expertise includes gene silencing, genomic engineering, recombinant technologies, 3D hydrogel cultures, cell-based metabolic assays, animal models of disease, and high-throughput assay automation and optimization.  

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R&D Associate, Neuroscience

Rajvinder Kaur is a neurobiologist, received her Ph.D. degree from the Faculty of Biology at the Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany. Her cross-disciplinary research expertise includes pharmacological modulators and ionizing radiation, neuronal activity and plasticity, 2D and 3D mammalian cell culture systems, stem cell differentiation, cell-based  biochemical assays, array-based extracellular recordings, animal research, and imaging. 

R&D Associate, Pharmacology

Bengisu  Turgutalp is a pharmacist and medicinal chemist, received her Ph.D. from the Institute of Health Sciences at Yeditepe University, and performed post-doctoral research in German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE). Her expertise includes design and synthesis of  pharmacologically active compounds, physicochemical characterization of  newly synthesized compounds, structure-activity relationship studies, in vitro pharmacokinetics profiling and in vivo pre-clinical animal studies.

R&D Associate, Engineering

Nicholas Dennison is a researcher at the Faculty of Chemistry, Technische Universität Dresden and Institute of  Biofunctional Polymer Materials at the Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden, Germany (IPF). His expertise includes high-throughput screening automation for biological assays,  high-content imaging and analysis, Design-of-experiment tools (DOE), hydrogel design for 3D cell cultures and compound screenings on in vitro tissue models.

Market Strategy Consultant

Ezgi Eris has over 10 years of pharmaceutical experience in medical strategy development, KOL relationship management, medical projects, clinical research, and drug safety. She was a hematology/ oncology MSL at Celgene for 9 years. She later served within the business strategy department of a healthcare agency that focuses on developing promotional materials in the area of neurological diseases. 

Strategic Advisor

Dr. N. Govindarajan works as Research and Innovation Manager at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg, Germany, bridging the fields of Artificial Intelligence and Life Sciences. Govind brings to our team his decade-long research experience in neurodegeneration along with many years of work experience in grants consultancy, R&D, and business strategies to ensure our lasting impact on the drug development technology landscape.