Koç University/Department of Chemistry
Dr. Safacan Kölemen graduated from the Chemistry Department at Bilkent University in 2008. After completing his MSc studies in the same department, he earned his PhD from the National Nanotechnology Research Center (UNAM), Material Science and Nanotechnology program at Bilkent University in 2014. Later, Dr. Kölemen moved to University of California, Berkeley Chemistry Department, where he worked as a postdoctoral researcher. In 2017, he joined the Department of Chemistry at Koç University as an Assistant Professor and established the Organic Chemistry and Chemical Biology research laboratory. He was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor in 2023. His current research focuses on the development of tumor selective phototherapy agents and fluorescent/chemiluminescent molecular sensors for bioimaging applications, and medicinal chemistry. He is the recipient of the Science Academy-BAGEP (2021), TUBA-GEBIP (2022) and METU Parlar Foundation Research Encouragement (2024) awards. Dr. Kölemen serves as a member of the editorial advisory board of ACS Central Science and ACS Bio&Med Chem Au.
