Assistant Professor, Department of Neurobiology
Dr. Gülçin Pekkurnaz is an Assistant Professor of Neurobiology at the University of California San Diego. Her research focuses on the molecular principles of metabolic homeostasis in the nervous system. By studying the interplay between neuronal metabolism and mitochondrial functions across cell classes, she aims to reveal fundamental insights into the mechanisms that regulate cellular bioenergetics and pinpoint the underlying causes of energy impairments that lead to neurological diseases.
Dr. Pekkurnaz received her undergraduate degree from Ankara University. As part of the National Institutes of Health Graduate Partnership Program with Ankara University, she completed her graduate training under the mentorship of Dr. Asuman Sunguroğlu and Dr. Joshua Zimmerberg. She pursued her postdoctoral studies in the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School with Dr. Thomas Schwarz. She has received numerous awards for her achievements, including the Torsten N. Wiesel Postdoctoral Award from Harvard Medical School, a NIDDK- Boston Nutrition Obesity Research Center New Investigator Award, the Company of Biologists Early Career Scientist Award, a Scialog Fellowship and a Stanley Fahn Junior Faculty Award from the Parkinson’s Foundation.
