Dr Yusuf Demir—Endeavour Research Fellowship
Home institution: Marmara University
Host institution: The University of Sydney
“I now have contacts with biotechnology
companies and various institutes around the
world and we are aiming to create new
collaborative research projects with Australia,
US and UK institutions.”
Dr Yusuf Kemal Demir, Faculty of Pharmacy,
Marmara University, Istanbul, Turkey
Dr Yusuf Kemal Demir strongly advocates, “If you persistently seek success you will achieve it one
day”. He studied Pharmacy and graduated in 2005 as one of the top students from the Faculty of
Pharmacy in Istanbul.
After accepting a scholarship in 2008 to do his postgraduate at the School of Pharmacy at Queen’s
University Belfast, UK, he learned cutting edge micro-needle technology. One of his research
group’s publications received a meritorious award from the American Association of Pharmaceutical
Scientists.
In 2013, Dr Demir was awarded a grant from The Scientific and Technological Research Council of
Turkey to set up his own company. On accepting the Endeavour Research Fellowship, he abdicated
the awarded Turkish grant and moved to Australia.
“I worked in the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Sydney as a postdoc fellow and
subsequently as a visiting scholar from March 2014 to March 2015. My work involved studying the
phenomenon of protein-aggregation.
“After my fellowship, I stayed on as a visiting scholar to carry out experiments on the development
of seasonal influenza vaccine. I have also mentored students in my host lab. Besides protein
aggregation, and seasonal flu vaccine project, we have conducted a bio-therapeutic formulation
project in collaboration with another group. In my host university, I was introduced and joined
weekly scientific meetings with other research clusters in Sydney.” he said.
Dr Demir’s Endeavour scholarship gave him the opportunity to meet internationally known speakers
and develop relationships with fellows in chemical engineering and pharmacy faculties at the
University of Sydney.
“I now have contacts with biotechnology companies and various institutes around the world and we
are aiming to create new collaborative research projects with Australia, US and UK institutions. We
are seeking funding sponsoring bodies across the world.”
Dr Demir currently works as an Assistant Professor in Istanbul and believes he will stay in the
academic environment.
Dr Yusuf Kemal Demir – Endeavour Research Fellowship