Principal Investigator
umitakbey@pitt.edu
Phone 412-383-9896
Fax 412-648-9008
Ümit received his B.Sc. in Chemistry from Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey. He joined Hans W. Spiess’s laboratory at Max Planck Institute, MPIP, Mainz, Germany for his Ph.D. in 2005. In 2009 he started his postdoctoral studies at Leibniz Institute for Molecular Pharmacology, FMP, Berlin, Germany with Hartmut Oschkinat. Ümit then moved to iNano/AIAS, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark in 2015 to start his group. Due to a series of unexpected events, he was away from science for a while. In 2018 he returned back and had the honour of working at several research institutions as a senior scientist; at Research Center Julich – Germany with Henrike Heise, Weizmann Institute of Science – Israel with Lucio Frydman and Radboud University – The Netherlands with Arno Kentgens. In 2022 he started a new faculty position at the Department of Structural Biology as an Assistant Professor. Ümit is interested in NMR & DNP method development, spin gymnastics and ssNMR based structural biology of insoluble proteins, particularly fibrils and functional amyloids. Other than science, he is into specialty coffee, AMGs, vintage cars and road trips.
Research Technician
chb49@pitt.edu
Chang received his B.Sc. from University of Pittsburgh in Chemistry. Since then he has extensive experience working at the Department of Structural Biology including Dr. Hinck and Dr. Gronenborn Labs. He is the first member of the Akbey Lab and he will be working on recombinant protein expression, characterization and structural studies on amyloid fibrils involved in biofilm formation and neurodegenerative diseases. Outside of work, he enjoys spending time with his family, biking, hiking and he hopes to pick up carpentry in near future.
Research Fellow
hansenk@pitt.edu
Kasper is a health sciences Research Fellow. He finished his M.Sc. at Aarhus University Denmark. He was a visiting student at the Lab in 2022-2023, and now he is back ! Originally a dental student, he picked up a keen interest for the medical side of academics. He is skilled in Electron Microscopy, Cryo-EM, cell cultures, animal models and recombinant protein expression. At the Akbey Lab he is working on structural studies on amyloid fibrils. In his spare time he enjoys restoring motorcycles, life on two wheels, hiking and cooking.
Research Fellow
emins@pitt.edu
Emin is a Research Fellow at Akbey Lab. He finished his MD degree at Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey. He was a researcher scientist and intern at Ruhr University,Bochum, Germany and at UPMC, Pittsburgh, USA. At the Akbey Lab Emin is working on structural studies on pathologic amyloid fibrils from neurodegeneration diseases. As a medical doctor, he will bring in a new perspective to our research. In his spare time he enjoys exploring new places, photography, engaging with music, and conversing with birds.
NMR Facility Manager
mid15@pitt.edu
Mike started his career at Bruker Biospin in 1988 as an engineer. During this time he held various positions form installation engineer, senior engineer, applications engineer and Regional Service Manager in Chicago, IL. Over the course of 18 years his morphing into the spectroscopist and research have been most rewarding. In 2005, he joined Prof. Gronenborn at the Department and he has been the NMR Facility Manager till now. He is an indispensable part of the research effort at the department and Akbey Lab. He manages seven ultra-high filed NMR spectrometers, loves them and supports research. In his free time, he enjoys working with wood.
Former Members:
Visiting Scientist
2023
saricayi@pitt.edu
Hakan received his B.Sc. and Ph.D. from Marmara University, Turkey in Chemistry Education. He had been a faculty for several years there and was a visiting professor in Michigan in 2014. His passion is in training next generation of excellent chemistry researchers. He joined Akbey Lab as a visiting scientist in 2023. He worked on advanced solution and solid NMR spectroscopy for structural studies on amyloid fibrils. Outside of work, he enjoys swimming, cycling and drinking Turkish tea.
SURP Undergraduate Student
2023
@pitt.edu
Ted is a SURP (summer research program) undergraduate student @Pitt. He is currently an a final year undergraduate student at Penn West University. He joined the lab in 2023. He worked on recombinant protein expression of functional amyloids and NMR spectroscopy. Outside of work, he enjoys swimming.
Rotation PhD Student
2023
jaj207@pitt.edu
Jasper was a rotation PhD student at Akbey Lab in 2023 from University of Pittsburgh MBSB graduate program. After receiving his B.Sc. from Lehigh University, Jasper worked on performing single molecule experiments with the molecular motor Kinesin. At the Akbey lab he worked on recombinant protein expression towards structural determination of proteins that assist functional amyloids fibrillation. When outside the lab space Jasper enjoys scale modeling, visiting submarines and being an amateur green thumb.
Rotation PhD Student
2022
paw102@pitt.edu
Ben was a rotation PhD student at Akbey Lab in 2022 from University of Pittsburgh MBSB graduate program. He worked on recombinant protein expression and purification of functional amyloids for their structural characterization.