Clinical and translational research in childhood allergy and immunology.
Led by Assoc. Prof. Burçin Beken
Research theme 06 / 06
Rare diseases and genomics
Undiagnosed and rare diseases, orphan drugs and the genetics of neurological and autoinflammatory disease.
- 4groups
- 40researchers
- 3facilities
Theme lead
Prof. Eda Tahir Turanlı
About this theme
The Rare Diseases and Orphan Drugs Application and Research Center (ACURARE), founded in 2017, brings together clinicians, diagnostic laboratories, patient organisations, professional bodies and pharmaceutical companies to improve diagnosis and treatment in rare diseases and to raise patients' quality of life. The Molecular Genetics Laboratory (IMGAL) identifies candidate genes in familial cases through genomic sequencing and bioinformatics, then characterises the variants in cell models, with multiple sclerosis and rare autoinflammatory diseases as its main areas.
Personalised medicine and genomic analysis, undiagnosed and rare diseases, and fetal-neonatal onset endocrinological diseases are among the School of Medicine's declared research areas.
Groups & labs 4
All groupsResearch group ACUPAI — Pediatric Allergy and Immunology Research Group Research group ACUPR — Acıbadem University Pediatrics Research Group Neonatal and paediatric outcomes research: congenital heart disease, kidney injury and early metabolic profiles.
Led by Prof. Serdar Beken
Research group ACURARE–ACUTBAT Undergraduate Research Group The School of Medicine’s undergraduate research group in rare diseases and breast health, run with the ACURARE centre and ACUTBAT.
Led by Prof. Yasemin Alanay
Research group IMGAL — Molecular Genetics Laboratory Finding the genetic defects behind neurological and autoinflammatory diseases, from familial sequencing to cell models.
Led by Prof. Eda Tahir Turanlı
People 40
All 40 researchers-
Assoc. Prof. Saygın Abalı
Associate Professor
- Assoc. Prof. Burcu Bulum Akbulut Associate Professor of Pediatric Health And Diseases
- Prof. Fehime Aksungar Professor of Medical Biochemistry
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Prof. Yasemin Alanay
Professor of Pediatrics and Pediatric Genetics; lead of the ACURARE undergraduate research group
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Research Assistant Elif Pulat Aydın
Research Assistant of Molecular Biology And Genetics
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Asst. Prof. Dilay Hazal Ayhan
Assistant Professor of Molecular Biology And Genetics
- Prof. Günseli Bayram Akçapınar Professor of Medical Biotechnology
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Assoc. Prof. Burçin Beken
Associate Professor of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology
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Prof. Serdar Beken
Professor of Pediatrics (Neonatology); Acıbadem University Pediatrics Research Group
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Asst. Prof. Kaya Bilgüvar
Assistant Professor of Medical Genetics
- Assoc. Prof. Hande Kaymakçalan Çelebiler Associate Professor
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Prof. Özlem Çelik
Professor of Internal Diseases
Facilities 3
Research capacity-
Biobank & data resources
Biobank
DNA and RNA isolation, sample processing and biobanking services for clinical and rare-disease research.
Access terms : Biobank Unit 
Application & research centres
ACURARE
A rare-disease biobank, omics and bioinformatics, and Türkiye's first structured undiagnosed-disease programme (UDP-İST), linked to UDNI, ERDERA and Orphanet.
Access terms : ACURARE — Rare Diseases and Orphan Drugs Application and Research Center-
Application & research centres
Diabetes Center
Clinical and translational research in diabetes, endocrinology and metabolism across adult and paediatric medicine.
Access terms : Diabetes Application and Research Center
Latest news
All 42 news itemsADEP funds TCR-MAP, a project mapping T-cell receptor signatures in autoimmune disease
The project TCR-MAP, with Prof. Günseli Bayram Akçapınar of Medical Biotechnology as a researcher, is selected for funding under the Research Universities Support Programme.
Geert Mortier Visited ACURARE
We had the pleasure of welcoming Prof. Geert Mortier, a leading expert in clinical genetics and dysmorphology, to ACURARE.
1 min readPresentation on Undiagnosed Patients by ACURARE at the ICORD Annual Meeting
ACURARE Vice Director Prof. Özden Hatırnaz Ng (@ozdenhatirnaz ) participated in the 17th ICORD Annual Meeting, held in İzmir on November 14–16, 2025.
Findings from the ISTisNA Project Presented at the Rett Syndrome Meeting
Findings from the ISTisNA Project Presented at the Rett Syndrome Meeting
1 min read
Voices
All VoicesWhy I stopped counting errors and started counting recoveries
After ten years of measuring what goes wrong in hospitals, a public health researcher explains why she now studies what goes right, and what that changes for patients.
Other research themes
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Oncology
From the neural niche of pancreatic tumours to organoid models and translational trials: how ACU groups study why cancers progress and resist treatment.
Theme lead
Prof. Güralp Onur Ceyhan
1 group
9 researchers
-
Neuroscience
Epilepsy, autism and neurodegeneration, studied from genetic rat models and NMR metabolomics to functional near-infrared brain imaging.
Theme lead
Prof. Filiz Onat
1 group
27 researchers
-
Biomaterials
Biosensors, functional materials, tissue engineering and medical-device testing, built on the Biomaterials Application and Research Center.
Theme lead
Assoc. Prof. Özgül Gök Özatay
2 groups
16 researchers
-
Medical AI & data
Data science for diagnosis and prognosis: AI in radiology, brain–machine interfaces, clinical decision support and sensor data.
Theme lead
Dr. Sinem Burcu Erdoğan
2 groups
73 researchers
-
Drug discovery
Candidate molecules, existing drugs and natural products: formulation, pharmacology, analytical chemistry and quality control in the Faculty of Pharmacy.
Theme lead
Prof. Günay Yetik Anacak
4 groups
22 researchers