CAGLAR CEKIC Ph.D.
SUMMARY
Versatile immunologist with extensive experience in cancer immunotherapy, vaccine adjuvants,
pharmacology, adaptive immune responses and inflammation. Broad knowledge of cell signaling,
biochemistry and molecular biology.
EDUCATION & RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Assistant Professor, Department of Mol. Biol. and Gen., Bilkent University, Ankara
2014-present
 Current interests: Effects of purinergic GPCR signaling on immune cell development, activation and
function.
Postdoctoral Fellow, La Jolla Institute for allergy and immunology (LIAI), La Jolla
Advisor: Dr. Joel Linden
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2009-2014
Discovered a GPCR signaling pathway regulating T cell development and homeostasis.
Discovered and characterized anti-tumor properties of an FDA-approved asthma drug.
Identified cellular targets of novel therapeutics using tissue-specific deletion of target genes.
Discovered a link between cholesterol homeostasis and tumor immunity.
Discovered nanoparticle formulations of a GPCR blocker as potent anti-tumor agent.
Collaborated with other post-docs at LIAI to identify the roles of different genes in carcinogenesis.
Reviewed manuscripts on a regular basis and helped the training of technicians and post-docs.
Ph.D., Immunology, University of Louisville, Kentucky
Advisor: Dr. Thomas C. Mitchell
2005-2009
 Integrated microarray, signaling, and functional data to uncover molecular and cellular mechanisms
for low-toxicity immunomodulation and adjuvanticity of active pharmacological agents.
 Screened structural mimetics of Lipid A as novel vaccine adjuvants in collaboration with.
GlaxoSmithKline.
 Assisted in the training of junior Ph.D. students and interns.
M.S., Biotechnology, Middle East Technical University (METU), Ankara, Turkey
Advisor: Semra Kocabiyik
 Cloned, affinity-purified, and characterized the activity of a thermostable protein
2002-2004
B.S., Biology and Biology Education, METU, Ankara, Turkey – with honors
1997-2002
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
1999: Voluntary teacher, METU Alumni Association, Ankara, Turkey
1999: Intern, Ankara Ataturk Anadolu Lisesi
2001: Biology Teacher, Mavi Dersane, Ankara, Turkey
2002: Teaching Assistant for Molecular Biology and General Biology Lab Courses
2014: Assistant Professor: Introduction to Modern Biology and Advanced Cell Biology Courses
FELLOWSHIPS
2012: Post-doctoral Fellowship, American Heart Association, Western States Affiliate.
2008: Pre-doctoral Fellowship, American Heart Association, Great Rivers Affiliate.
2005: Integrated programs in biomedical sciences pre-doctoral fellowship, University of Louisville
Caglar Cekic, PhD
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HONORS AND AWARDS
2014: Invited lecturer Purines2014 meeting, Bonn, Germany
2013: AAI Trainee Award for the studies on immunosuppression in tumor microenvironment
2012: ASPET Molecular Pharmacology Division Young Scientist Award (Runner up)
2012: AAI Trainee Award for the studies on adenosine A2A receptors
2012: AAI Trainee Award for the studies on adenosine A2B receptors
2011: Invitation for oral presentation for La Jolla Immunology Conference
2009: Dean’s citation award for the recognition of overall excellent performance in PhD program
2009: Travel award (International center, University of Louisville)
2007: Travel award (International center, University of Louisville)
2002: Teaching Assistantship (awarded after highly competitive written and oral exams), METU.
2002: Graduation with an honor degree, Departments of Biology and Biology Education, METU.
PUBLICATIONS:
Peer-Reviewed Publications:
Caglar Cekic and Joel Linden. Adenosine A2A receptor intrinsically regulates CD8+ T cell
maintenance in solid tumor microenvironment Cancer Research- in press (2014)
Caglar Cekic, Duygu Sag, Yuan-Ji Day and Joel Linden. Myeloid expression of Adenosine A2A
receptor suppresses T and NK cell responses in tumor microenvironment Cancer Research- in press
(2014)
Caglar Cekic, Duygu Sag, Yuan-Ji Day and Joel Linden. Extracellular adenosine regulates naïve T cell
development and peripheral maintenance. The Journal of Experimental Medicine. 210 (12): 2693
(2013)
Caglar Cekic, Duygu Sag, Yuesheng Li, Robert M. Strieter, Dan Theodorescu, and Joel Linden.
Adenosine A2B receptor blockade slows growth of bladder and breast tumors. The Journal of
Immunology,188(1):198-205 (2012).
Joel Linden and Caglar Cekic. Regulation of lymphocyte function by adenosine. Arteriosclerosis,
Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, Review article (2012)
Caglar Cekic, Carolyn R. Casella, Duygu Sag, Frann Antignano, Joey Kolb, Jill Suttles, Michael
Hughes, Gerald Krystal, and Thomas C. Mitchell. MyD88-dependent SHIP1 regulates pro-inflammatory
signaling pathways in dendritic cells after monophosphoryl lipid A stimulation of TLR4. The Journal of
Immunology, 186: 3858-3865 (2011).
Caglar Cekic, Structure-function studies on low-toxicity TLR4 stimulation. Ph.D. Doctoral Dissertation,
University of Louisville, ISBN:9781244698239, (2009).
Caglar Cekic, Carolyn R. Casella, Chelsea A. Eaves, Atsushi Matsuzawa, Hidenori Ichijo, and Thomas
C. Mitchell. Selective activation of the p38 MAPK pathway by synthetic monophosphoryl Lipid A. The
Journal of Biological Chemistry, 284, 31982-31991 (2009).
Huizhi Wang, Carlos A. Garcia, Kunal Rehani, Caglar Cekic, Pascale Alard, Denis F. Kinane, Thomas
Mitchell, and Michael Martin. IFN-beta production by TLR4-stimulated innate immune cells is negatively
regulated by GSK3-beta. The Journal of Immunology, 181: 6797–6802 (2008).
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Verónica Mata-Haro, Caglar Cekic, Michael Martin, Paula M. Chilton, Carolyn R. Casella, Thomas C.
Mitchell. The vaccine adjuvant monophosphoryl lipid A as a TRIF-biased agonist of TLR4. Science,
316, 1628 (2007).
INVITED TALKS AND LECTURES
Caglar Cekic and Joel Linden. Adenosine Effects on T cell homeostasis in Tumors. Purines 2014
Meeting, Bonn, Germany (Invited Lecturer)
Caglar Cekic and Joel Linden. Opposing effects of myeloid vs. lymphoid deletion of adenosine A2A
receptors on anti-tumor immune responses. For AAI meeting, Hawaii, 2013 (Travel award-Invited for
Oral presentation)
Caglar Cekic, Duygu Sag and Joel Linden. Cell-intrinsic adenosine A2A receptor signaling is required
for T cell homeostasis and control of tumor growth. For AAI meeting, Boston, 2012. (Travel awardInvited for Oral presentation)
Caglar Cekic and Joel Linden. Adenosine A2B receptor signaling in antigen presenting cells suppresses
anti-tumor adaptive immune responses. For AAI meeting, Boston, 2012. (Travel award-Invited for
Oral presentation)
Caglar Cekic, Duygu Sag and Joel Linden. Cell-intrinsic adenosine A2A receptor signaling is required
for T cell homeostasis and tumor surveillance. For Experimental Biology meeting, San Diego, 2012.
(Young investigator award-Oral Presentation)
Caglar Cekic, Duygu Sag, Yuan-Ji Day and Joel Linden. Cell-intrinsic adenosine A2A receptor signaling
is required for T cell homeostasis. For La Jolla Immunology Conference, La Jolla, 2011. (Invited for
Oral presentation)
Caglar Cekic and Joel Linden. Targeting adenosine receptors for cancer therapy. For La Jolla
Immunology Conference, La Jolla 2010
POSTER PRESENTATIONS
Caglar Cekic, Duygu Sag and Joel Linden. Adenosine A2B receptor blockade slows growth of bladder
and breast tumors. For Experimental Biology meeting, San Diego, 2012.
Caglar Cekic, Duygu Sag, and Joel Linden. Aminophylline inhibits breast and bladder tumor growth in
mice due to CXCR3-dependent adenosine A2B receptor blockade. For AAI meeting, San Francisco
(The Journal of Immunology, 2011, 186S: 165.32)
Caglar Cekic, Chelsea A. Eaves, Carolyn R. Casella and Thomas C. Mitchell. “A promoter complexity
model for Trif-biased stimulation of TLR4 by Monophosphoryl Lipid A.” For AAI meeting, Seattle (The
Journal of Immunology, 2009, 182S: 44.28.)
Caglar Cekic, Chelsea A. Eaves, Carolyn R. Casella and Thomas C. Mitchell. “MyD88-dependent
Inhibition of TLR4/TRIF Associated Signaling after Monophosphoryl Lipid A Stimulation” For AAI
meeting, Seattle (The Journal of Immunology, 2009, 182S: 91.20.)
Caglar Cekic, Chelsea A. Eaves, Carolyn R. Casella and Thomas C. Mitchell. “A promoter complexity
model for Trif-biased stimulation of TLR4 by Monophosphoryl Lipid A.” Toll2008: Recent advances in
pattern recognition, Cascais, Portugal September 24-27, 2008. (Travel grant from International
Center, University of Louisville.)
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Caglar Cekic, Verónica Mata-Haro, Michael Martin, Paula M. Chilton, Carolyn R. Casella, Thomas C.
Mitchell. “The vaccine adjuvant monophosphoryl lipid A is a TRIF-biased agonist of TLR4.” 13th
International Congress of Immunology, Rio de Janeiro Brazil August 21-25, 2007 (Travel grant from
International Center, University of Louisville.)
Caglar Cekic, Seda Ozdogan, Inci Ozdemir, Semra Kocabiyik “Citrate Synthase from Thermoplasma
volcanium and Construction of its Fusion Products” HUPO 2nd Annual & IUBMB XIX World Congress,
Montreal, Canada October 8–11, 2003
Caglar Cekic, Seda Ozdogan, Inci Ozdemir, Semra Kocabiyik “Functional Studies on Different
Proteases of Thermoplasma volcanium” HUPO 2nd Annual & IUBMB XIX World Congress, Montreal,
Canada October 8–11, 2003
Caglar Cekic and Semra Kocabiyik. “Cloning of Citrate Synthase Gene from Thermoplasma
Volcanium.” For FEBS meeting, Istanbul, Turkey (The FEBS Journal, 269, 114 2002.)
CO-AUTHORED POSTERS AND PRESENTATIONS:
Richard Hanna, Caglar Cekic, Manesh Chittezhath, Erica Herrley, Grzegorz Chodaczek, Subhra
Biswas, and Catherine Hedrick. NR4A1 (Nur77) dependent monocytes patrol the lung vasculature and
inhibit tumor cell invasion For AAI meeting, Hawaii, 2013 (Invited for Oral presentation)
Duygu Sag, Caglar Cekic, Joel Linden and Catherine C. Hedrick. Cholesterol Transporter ABCG1 as a
Novel Mediator of Anti-Tumor Immunity. For International Immunotherapy Symposia Series of the
Cancer Research Institute. New York 2011
Thomas Mitchell, Carolyn Casella, Caglar Cekic, Chelsea Eaves, Paula Chilton. “A paradigm for
vaccine adjuvant development: TRIF-biased signaling by the TLR4 agonist monophosphoryl lipid A” For
14th International Congress of Immunology, Kobe, Japan, 2010.
Chelsea A. Eaves, Caglar Cekic and Thomas C. Mitchell. The role of IL-1β in the vaccine adjuvant
Monophosphoryl Lipid A’s TRIF-biased TLR4 signaling and low toxicity. For AAI meeting Seattle (The
Journal of Immunology, 2009, 182, 134.49)
Thomas C. Mitchell, Caglar Cekic, Carolyn R. Casella, and Chelsea A. Eaves. Low Toxicity Signaling
by Monophosphoryl Lipid A. Tri-Society Annual Conference, Lisbon (Cytokine , 2009, 48, 129-129).
Verónica Mata-Haro, Caglar Cekic, Michael Martin, Paula M. Chilton, Carolyn R. Casella, Thomas C.
Mitchell. The vaccine adjuvant monophosphoryl lipid A is a partial agonist of TLR4. For AAI meeting,
Boston (The Journal of Immunology, 2006, 176S)
MEMBERSHIPS:
American Association of Immunologists (AAI). (ID:00223105)
American Heart Association (AHA). (ID:179488806)
The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET). (ID:22234)
Reviewer for the following journals
Journal of Leukocyte Biology (IF: 4.304)
Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology (IF: 6.338)
Journal of Cardiovascular Translational Research (IF: 2.691)
Mediators of Inflammation (2.417)
Caglar Cekic, PhD
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