Turgut Ozal University Faculty of Medicine 6th International Student Congress

Abstract

Turgut Ozal University Scientific Research Committee (TOBAT) was established in Turgut Ozal University Faculty of Medicine in 2009 to encourage young medical students and scientists to carry out novel scientific research in addition to their medical education in order to 1) establish a platform of informing the latest advancements in science, 2) present this work to colleagues and 3) meet and interact with their peers within the international medical and scientific community.
 Our committee annually organizes Turkey’s most highly-qualified medical student congress with the highest number of presenters and attendants, the International Medical Student Congress (IMSC). Over 1,500 medical students and experts attend our congress to present, learn and discuss new research in medicine. Medical students from all over Turkey present the results from their scientific work of the previous year. 
 Because of the international nature of this congress, experts, scientists and attendants from other countries enrich the content and atmosphere of the congress. We also invite successful students who have trained in their own countries and who are interested in science and medicine. Students from abroad present their splendid work and also strengthen the global student network. 
 The congress is covered by the media, both print and television, and has a positive impact on public opinion. The conference organization, design and coordination and the configuration of the scientific program are completed by Turgut Ozal University’s medical students with the assistance of their supervisors; which is a success in itself.
 Research and scientific work performed by students compose the main portion of the congress. The latest congress included 161 oral and 74 posters presentations. The topics covered by these presentations often show the promise of playing an important role in the future of medical research. Over the past years, topics have included the following: “CRISPR/Cas9 system”: its utilities and its possible applications, especially for tuberculosis infection; the use of synthetic biology to re-program heart coronary arteries for “the rapid treatment of myocardial infarction”; tissue engineering and its novel approaches; and, a state-of-art method for “the colon cancer therapy by using synthetic gut flora”.
 This year, for the first time, we have included a very important opportunity for the congress attendees: 20 studies of the participating scientific presentations have been selected to be published in this supplementary of the Journal of Clinical and Investigative Medicine, a journal cited in SCI and PubMed database. We believe that this opportunity has encouraged the young scientists to improve their research skills, to carry out better and more novel studies and to collaborate for effectively with each other. The selection was difficult because of the high quality of the scientific research. In this supplementary, you will find several well-documented studies on different topics including the genetic roots of Alzheimer’s disease related to the clusterin gene, novel approaches for cancer stem cell, a novel reporter protein to be used in lab as an alternative to GFP, the effects of traditional moving dry cupping therapy on sleep quality and shoulder-neck pain and the inhibition of gram negative E.coli by LALF-secreting engineered gram positive B. subtilis. By seeing the quality and breadth of these topics, the contributions and potential impact of our congress to the scientific community can be better understood.
 We wish to express our sincere appreciation to the editors of the Journal of Clinical and Investigative Medicine for their editing and their support in publishing this supplementary material. We would like also to take this opportunity to thank the Rector of Turgut Ozal University, the Dean of Faculty of Medicine, our instructors, mentors, seniors, advisors and technical staff for their kind advice and assistance in organizing this huge undertaking. 
 Kind regards,
 Mustafa Semih Elitok on behalf of Turgut Ozal University 
 Scientific Research Committee (TOBAT)