Within the scope of the TÜBA-GEBİP Awards, which are given to influential young scientists in the fields of nature, engineering, health sciences and social sciences in order to encourage scientific studies at the international level originating from Türkiye, ITU Faculty of Science and Letters, Department of Chemistry faculty member Assoc. Prof. Dr. Fuat Topuz received award in the “Natural Sciences” category.

Dr. Fuat Topuz was born on April 10, 1986, in Erzurum. After obtaining his bachelor's degree in the Department of Chemistry at Karadeniz Technical University, he pursued a master's degree in the same department and conducted his master's thesis for 11 months at Vienna Technical University, earning his master's degree. Following his master's studies, he completed his Ph.D. in 2015 at the DWI Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials at RWTH Aachen University in Germany. Subsequently, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Bilkent University National Nanotechnology Research Center (UNAM) for six months. Later, as part of the Marie Curie Co-funded Brain Circulation program, he served as a project leader at Sabancı University, Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences. Between August 2017 and June 2019, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at UNAM, and from 2019 to 2021, he worked as a postdoctoral associate at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in the Advanced Membranes and Porous Materials Center.

In January 2022, Dr. Topuz started working as a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry at Istanbul Technical University. In June 2023, he received the title of associate professor from Interuniversity Institution (UAK). Dr. Topuz's postdoctoral research has been focused on nanomaterials, particularly in recent years, on the development of innovative nanofiber materials. The nanofiber materials he developed have been effectively utilized as adsorbents for the removal of crude oil and derivatives, industrial pollutants from water, as well as in the filtration of toxic volatile chemicals from the air. In addition to environmental applications of nanofibers, Dr. Topuz has conducted significant research on nanofiber-based rapid drug release systems, particularly for patients with swallowing difficulties, such as those with closed consciousness or dysphagia.

Dr. Topuz has also made substantial contributions to the field of gels, especially with publications on thiol-based nano gels/hydrogels synthesized through enzyme catalysis, DNA, and alginate gels. He has published his research on gels in reputable journals such as Angewandte Chemie, Macromolecules, and Biomacromolecules.

Dr. Topuz has received several awards, including the Science Academy Young Scientist Award Program (BAGEP-2022) and the Istanbul Technical University - Young Academician Achievement Award (2023). As a result of his research on nanomaterials, he has published 58 articles in internationally indexed journals, with three of them selected as cover articles. According to data as of November 2023, his articles have received 2856 citations (h-index=26) on Google Scholar (academic index) and 2338 citations (h-index=25) on Scopus.

 Significant Publications

Articles:

1. Topuz, F.; Abdellah, M.H.; Budd, P.M.; and Abdulhamid, M.A. “Advances in Polymers of Intrinsic Microporosity (PIMs)-based Materials for Membrane, Environmental, Catalysis, Sensing and Energy Applications” Polymer Reviews 2023, doi.org/10.1080/15583724.2023.2236677
2. Topuz, F.; Uyar, T.“Advances in the development of cyclodextrin-based nanogels/microgels for biomedical applications: drug delivery and beyond”Carbohydrate Polymers 2022, 297, 120033.
3. Topuz, F.; Abdulhamid, M.A.; Szekely, G.“Superoleophilic oil-adsorbing membranes based on porous and nonporous fluorinated polyimides for the rapid remediation of oil spills”Chemical Engineering Journal2022, 449, 137821
4. Topuz, F.; Abdulhamid, M.A.; Hardian, R.; Holtz, T.; Szekely, G. “Nanofibrous membranes comprising intrinsically microporous polyimides with embedded metal–organic frameworks for capturing volatile organic compounds”Journal of Hazardous Materials, 2022,127347.
5. Topuz, F.; Holtz, T.; Szekely, G. “Scavenging organic micropollutants from water with nanofibrous hypercrosslinked cyclodextrin membranes derived from green resources”Chemical Engineering Journal (2021), 419, 129443
6. Topuz, F.; Kilic, M. E.; Durgun, E.; Szekely, G. “Fast-dissolving antibacterial nanofibers of cyclodextrin/antibiotics inclusion complexes for oral drug delivery”Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 2021, 584,184-194
7. Topuz, F.; Abdulhamid, Nunes, S.F.; Szekely, G. “Hierarchically porous electrospun nanofibrous mats produced from intrinsically microporous fluorinated polyimide for the removal of oils and non-polar solvents”Environmental Science: Nano, 2020, 7, 1365-1372
8. Topuz, F.; Singh, S.; Abrecht, K.; Moeller, M.; Groll, J. “DNA nanogels to snare chemical carcinogens: a bioinspired generic concept with high efficiency”Angewandte Chemie International Edition,2016, 55, 12210-12213.
9. Singh, S.;* Topuz, F.;* Hahn, K.; Abrecht, K.; Groll, J. “Embedding of active proteins and living cells in redox-sensitive hydrogels and nanogels through enzymatic cross-linking” Angewandte Chemie International Edition 2013, 52 (10), 3000-3003.
10. Buenger, D.;* Topuz, F.;* Groll, J. “Hydrogels in sensing applications” Progress in Polymer Science, 2012, 37(12), 1678-719.