Dr. Ozel completed his undergraduate studies in molecular biology and genetics at Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey. He then started his doctoral studies at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Upon joining the laboratory of Robin Hiesinger, PhD, he studied the role of stochastic filopodial dynamics in axon target layer stabilization using a novel technique he developed for long-term live imaging of developing fly brains. In 2015, the laboratory relocated to Freie Universität Berlin. Dr. Ozel continued his research in Germany and went on to show that photoreceptor axons follow a serial mode of synapse formation based on competitive stabilization of synaptogenic filopodia, which ensures the formation of appropriate number of synapses. He received his PhD in neuroscience from UT Southwestern and recently started his postdoctoral research at NYU with Claude Desplan, PhD. Dr. Ozel’s current research combines single-cell transcriptomics, machine learning, and network inference approaches to decipher gene regulatory mechanisms that establish the neuronal diversity and synapse-specific connectivity in the Drosophila optic lobe.
