Mehmet Candas is a scientist, educator and occasional multimedia artist at The University of Texas at Dallas.  He teaches at the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.  His courses include Biochemistry, Molecular Cell Biology, Biotechnology, Proteomics, Cellular Microbiology, Modern Biology, and Human Body Systems.  Previously he served as Research Manager at the Center for Biotechnology and Bioinformatics. At this position, he conducted research on cell adhesion receptors and bacterial toxins.  He also helped start a company focusing on agricultural and environmental biotechnology.  As the scientific co-founder and internal consultant to the company, he provided strategic and operational leadership for the R&D projects.  He implemented a technology platform for genomic-based product development.  The platform integrated bioinformatics and proteomics applications with laboratory robotics, enabling processing of multi-species genetic sequences to select highly-specific DNA primers by discriminating protein conserved domains in complex samples. The technology facilitated high-throughput cloning and construction of gene libraries utilized to identify expression-ready cDNA clones, which were used to screen drug and insecticide targets in cell-based functional assays.

Prior to UT-Dallas, Dr. Candas was at Cytoclonal Pharmaceutics.  His work concentrated on recombinant protein expression vectors and live bacteria vaccine delivery technologies, which aimed applications for immune stimulation and treatment of infectious diseases and cancer.  Before coming to the U.S., Dr. Candas was a faculty member in Ankara University, School of Medicine (Türkiye) where he taught Medical Biology and Clinical Genetics.  Prior that, he worked at Düzen Laboratories; a medical technology and molecular diagnostics services company specializing in clinical biochemistry, microbiology and medical imaging.

Dr. Candas earned his PhD degree from Southern Methodist University (Dallas, Texas), and MS and BS degrees from Middle East Technical University (Ankara, Türkiye) with specialties in molecular genetics, biochemistry and microbiology.  In his doctoral dissertation, he studied antioxidant defenses and the aging process.  He characterized the glutathione/thioredoxin reductase gene in Drosophila melanogaster.  His work set the stage for overexpression of the gene in transgenic Drosophila and facilitated understanding its role in survival extension under oxidative stress.  His Master's thesis covered studies on RNA modifications in cancer.  He studied differences in transfer RNA populations between normal tissues and tumors in human brain cancers.  His postdoctoral work involved studies in bacterial metabolism and virulence regulation.  He investigated propionate metabolism and biofilm production in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and identified molecular targets suitable for development of new anti-infectives.  His current research interests focus on intracellular signaling pathways associated with cell adhesion receptors, and bacteria and insect systems as paradigms for microbe-host interactions.  He studies structural and functional aspects of adhesion receptors and cell death signaling cascades with the goal of understanding regulatory pathways involved in development, and determining biochemical mechanisms of microbial toxins, drugs and insecticide action.  His studies suggest broad implications for the involvement of gut epithelium in physiological responses and provide new insight into the genetic basis of cellular resistance to stress.

© 2014  |  Mehmet Candas  |  Biological Sciences  |  The University of Texas at Dallas