Proud Turks

Hayat Onyuksel named University of Illinois 2003 Inventor of the Year inventor of the year

Her patented technology receives sponsored research grants from major pharmaceutical companies to develop novel targeted nanomedicines for breast cancer.

Hayat Onyuksel, professor of pharmaceutics and bioengineering, was honored by the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists for outstanding contributions to her field.

Onyuksel was one of 24 scientists recognized for “remarkable scholarly and research contributions to the pharmaceutical sciences.”

She is the fourth UIC professor to be named an AAPS fellow.

Onyuksel’s research addresses drug solubility and safety problems using a nanotechnology-based targeted drug delivery approach.

Using nanotechnology, she can deliver the drug specifically to the disease site. Her work in animal models has shown that this targeted approach increases drug action while significantly decreasing side effects. Her work forms the basis for future nanomedicines to treat cancers, rheumatoid arthritis and Alzheimer’s disease.

In 2006, Onyuksel received a one-year grant from the Illinois Department of Public Health to continue her work to develop a drug for Alzheimer’s disease. There is no effective treatment for the disease, which affects about 5 million Americans.
http://www.tuftad.org.tr/hayat.html
http://www.controlledrelease.org/main/pubs/pdfs/v21i2.pdf

In 1985, College of Pharmacy Professor Hayat Onyuksel, PhD,made a difficult choice. When given the opportunity to extend her summer-long visit to the United States and continue her temporary Univeristy of Illinois, Chicago research project in the area of pharmaceutics and bioengineering, she took a risk and opted to stay - leaving behind her extended family, friends and a permanent faculty position at Ankara University,in Turkey.

Years later,Hayat Onyuksel’s tough decision appears to be one of the best she has made.
Within her first three years of living in the United States, Onyuksel married, had a son and accepted a demanding, full-time position as an assistant professor in the UIC College of Pharmacy. And this year,now with eight patents under her belt and several
more pending, an option on her technology by Baxter Health Corporation,and two start-up companies (VipoGen and MedLipids), the University of Illinois in Chicago has named
Onyuksel as its 2003 Inventor of the Year.

“Getting this award puts everything into perspective. It was not easy at all, things worked out really fine and did not stop me from doing my innovative research”she said.“I don’t have any
reservations or concerns about whether I should have done things differently.”

The prestigious Inventor of the Year award recognizes UIC faculty researchers who demonstrate outstanding achievement and leadership in the advancement of science and useful arts.
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