Browsing by Author "Ayaz, Furkan"

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New-Generation Benzimidazole-Based Plasmid Delivery Reagents With High Transfection Efficiencies on the Mammalian Cells
(Springer, 2020) Ayaz, Furkan; Ersan, Ronak Haj; Kuzu, Burak; Algul, Oztekin
Gene transfer and gene therapy studies require high-efficiency gene delivery reagents. By transferring the piece of DNA that we are interested in, we can alter the expression of certain gene or genes to further characterize its role in the cell function or in the organism's development, metabolism, immune system, etc. Transfection reagents that enable efficient delivery of the DNA to the cells are important tools in the molecular and cellular biology studies. There are chemical products and tools that have been used for transfection of the cells but they are not as efficient as desired or they can induce cytotoxicity. It is crucial to design and generate new transfection reagents to further support the field of biotechnology, molecular studies, cellular biology, and in vitro studies relying on them. The more efficient and the less cytotoxic compounds will be especially useful for the field. We synthesized a new set of benzimidazole-based transfection reagents that have higher efficiency to carry GFP expressing plasmid in to the mammalian cells compared with the commercially available ones with low cytotoxicity. GFP expression levels were tracked by flow cytometry to determine the transfection efficiencies. Benzimidazole-based transfection reagents can be safely used for transfection studies in tissue culture as well as in gene therapy applications due to their high efficiency in the gene transfer to the mammalian cells.
Synthesis of New Alicyclic Oxalamide Derivatives and Their Differential Immunomodulatory Activities on the Mammalian Cells
(Wiley, 2019) Kuzu, Burak; Ayaz, Furkan; Algul, Oztekin
A series of novel alicyclic oxalamide derivatives were synthesized by the reaction of the N-alicyclic secondary amine analogs with the intermediates obtained from the reaction of 2-aminophenol derivatives and diethyl oxalate. Due to their similarities to the thalidomide, these compounds were synthesized as alternative anti-inflammatory drug candidates. In order to test their efficacies, an in vitro inflammation model was utilized. In this model, macrophages be activated by a danger mimic lipopolysaccharide to produce pro-inflammatory cytokines. Macrophages are the major cell types that produce cytokines against danger stimuli to regulate the local as well as systemic immune reactions. The alicyclic oxalamide derivatives' immunomodulatory potentials were tested in vitro on the macrophages. Based on our results, these molecules had differential effects on the production of the TNF alpha and IL6 pro-inflammatory cytokines by the lipopolysaccharide-stimulated macrophages. A set of the derivatives had adjuvant and immunostimulatory activities, while another group had anti-inflammatory activities. Their differential effects on the production of the TNF alpha and IL6 open new venues for their medicinal applications. One can target a specific cytokine that has been associated with a certain disease while sparing the activity and production of the other cytokine by using a certain selection of the derivatives in our hands.