Dr Ezgi Kucukkilic-Stephens
Project Officer - Microbiology
School of Environment, Earth & Ecosystem Sciences
ezgi.kucukkilic-stephens@open.ac.uk
Biography
Professional biography
I am a project officer in the AstrobiologyOU group. My current project involves molecular and metagenomic analysis of low-biomass samples from within cleanrooms related to the space missions as well as other low-biomass environments. I also assist the PDRAs and PhD students with their research.
My PhD at the University of Leicester involved an investigation of the copy number variation of complement receptor 1 (CR1) gene and its relevance to disease such as Alzheimer's and malaria.
2018-Current Project Officer, School of Environment, School of Earth and Ecosystem Science - Open University
2013-2017 PhD in Genetics, Department of Genetics and Genome Biology - University of Leicester
2011-2012 MSc in Molecular Cell Biology, Department of Science and Technology - Nottingham Trent University
Project - Exaptation of Mammalian-Wide Interspersed Repeats
2007-2011 BSc in Genetics and Bioengineering, Faculty of Engineering - Yeditepe University
Project - Determination of Pea3 Binding Sites on NeuroD Promoter.
2006-2007 English Language School (Prep) - Yeditepe University
Publications:
1) Preston, L. J., Barcenilla, R., Dartnell, L. R., Kucukkilic-Stephens, E., & Olsson-Francis, K. (2019). Infrared Spectroscopic Detection of Biosignatures at Lake Tírez, Spain: Implications for Mars. Astrobiology. doi:10.1089/ast.2019.2106
2) Kucukkilic, E., Brookes, K., Barber, I., Guetta-Baranes, T., Morgan, K., Hollox, E.J., 2018. Complement receptor 1 gene (CR1) intragenic duplication and risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Human Genetics. doi:10.1007/s00439-018-1883-2.
Projects
Astrobiology - Consultancy contracts umbrella record
This is an umbrella record for contracts undertaken by Astrobiology
Publications
Journal Article
An ensemble binning approach to identify functional diversity in cleanroom environments (2026)
Experimental Identification of Potential Martian Biosignatures in Open and Closed Systems (2024)
Habitability and Biosignature Formation in Simulated Martian Aqueous Environments (2023)
Sulfur Cycling as a Viable Metabolism under Simulated Noachian/Hesperian Chemistries (2022)
Infrared Spectroscopic Detection of Biosignatures at Lake Tírez, Spain: Implications for Mars (2020)
Presentation / Conference
The habitability of distinct martian environments (2023)
The habitability of water from distinct martian environments (2023)