Education and Work experience

Staff Scientist, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (Jan 2024 – Present)

Postdoctoral researcher, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (Sept 2022 – Jan 2024)

Postdoctoral researcher, Washington University in St Louis, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics (Dec 2019 – Sept 2022)

PhD, Physics, Concordia University (Aug 2014 – Sept 2019)

MSc, Computational Sciences and Engineering, Koç University (Sept 2012 – Aug 2014)

BSc, Istanbul Technical University, Physics Engineering (Sept 2006 – Jun 2011)

Research

I study how lipids modulate function, conformational dynamics and association of these proteins using physics-based computational modeling. 

PhD, Physics, Concordia University (Aug 2014 – Sept 2019)

MSc, Computational Sciences and Engineering, Koç University (Sept 2012 – Aug 2014)

BSc, Istanbul Technical University, Physics Engineering (Sept 2006 – Jun 2011)

[19] CF Carnahan, W He, TN Ozturk, Y Wang, VN Ngassam, A Noy, TS Carpenter, JC Voss, MA Coleman, AN Parikh (2025). Apolipoprotein interaction induces shape remodeling and lipid phase separation in giant unilamellar vesicles. BioRxiv (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.04.10.648283)

[18] TN Ozturk*, TJ Ferron, W He, B Schwarz, TM Weiss, NO Fischer, A Rasley, TS Carpenter, CM Bosio, HI Ingólfsson* (2025). Highly tail-asymmetric lipids interdigitate and cause bidirectional ordering. Journal of Lipid Research 66(5), 100797

[17] KB Pedersen et al. (2025). The Martini 3 lipidome: expanded and refined parameters improve lipid phase behavior. ACS Central Science (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acscentsci.5c00755)

[16] WFD Bennett, A Bernardi, TN Ozturk, HI Ingólfsson, SJ Fox, D Sun, CM Maupin. (2024). ezAlign: A Tool for Converting Coarse-Grained Molecular Dynamics Structures to Atomistic Resolution for Multiscale Modeling. Molecules 29(15), 3557

[15] T Oppelstrup, LG Stanton, JOB Tempkin, TN Ozturk, HI Ingólfsson, TS Carpenter. (2024). Anisotropic interactions for continuum modeling of protein–membrane systems. Journal of Chemical Physics 161, 244908

[14] TN Ozturk, M Konig, TS Carpenter, KB Pedersen, TA Wassenaar, HI Ingólfsson, SJ Marrink .(2024). Building complex membranes with Martini 3. Methods in Enzymology 701, 237-285

[13] L Borges-Araújo, A Borges-Araújo, TN Ozturk, DP Ramirez-Echemendia, B Fábián, TS Carpenter, S Thallmair, J Barnoud, HI Ingólfsson, G Hummer, DP Tieleman, SJ Marrink, PCT Souza, MN Melo. (2023). Martini 3 Coarse-Grained Force Field for Cholesterol. Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation, 19(20), 7387-7404

[12] TN Ozturk, N Bernhardt, N Schwartz, R Chadda, JL Robertson and JD Faraldo-Gomez. (2023). Mitigation of membrane morphology defects explain stability and orientational specificity of CLC dimers, BioRxiv (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.03.16.533024)

[11] M Ernst, TN Ozturk, JL Robertson. (2023). A single-molecule method for measuring fluorophore labeling yields for the study of membrane protein oligomerization in membranes. PloS one 18(1), e0280693

[10] TN Ozturk, C. Coumoundouros, D. Culham and J. Wood. (2023). Structural determinants and functional significance of dimerization for osmosensing transporter ProP in Escherichia coli. Biochemistry 62(1) 118-133

[9] S Ahrari, TN Ozturk, N D’Avanzo. (2022). Ion behaviour in the selectivity filter of HCN1 channels. Biophysical Journal 121 (11), 2206-2218

[8] EA Orabi, TN Öztürk, N Bernhardt, JD Faraldo-Gómez. (2021). Corrections in the CHARMM36 Parametrization of Chloride Interactions with Proteins, Lipids, and Alkali Cations, and Extension to Other Halide Anions. Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation 17 (10), 6240-6261

[7] K Mersch, TN Ozturk, K Park, HH Lim, JL Robertson. (2021). Altering CLC stoichiometry by reducing non-polar side-chains at the dimerization interface. Journal of Molecular Biology 433 (8), 166886

[6] R Chadda, N Bernhardt, EG Kelley, SC Teixeira, K Griffith, A Gil-Ley, TN Öztürk, LE Hughes, A Forsythe, V Krishnamani, JD Faraldo-Gómez, JL Robertson. (2021). Membrane transporter dimerization driven by differential lipid solvation energetics of dissociated and associated states. Elife 10, e63288

[5] TN Ozturk, DE Culham, L Tempelhagen, JM Wood, G Lamoureux. (2020). Salt-Dependent Interactions between the C-Terminal Domain of Osmoregulatory Transporter ProP of Escherichia coli and the Lipid Membrane. The Journal of Physical Chemistry B 124 (38), 8209–8220

[4] L Krohn*, TN Öztürk*, B Vanderperre*, B Ouled Amar Bencheikh, JA Ruskey, … (2020). Genetic, Structural, and Functional Evidence Link TMEM175 to Synucleinopathies. Annals of Neurology 87 (1), 139–153

[3] DE Culham, D Marom, R Boutin, J Garner, TN Ozturk, N Sahtout, L Tempelhagen, G Lamoureux, and JM Wood (2018). Dual role of the C-terminal domain in osmosensing by bacterial osmolyte transporter ProP. Biophysical Journal 115 (11), 2152–2166

[2] TN Ozturk, S Keskin. (2014). Computational screening of porous coordination networks for adsorption and membrane-based gas separations. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C 118 (25), 13988–13997

[1] TN Ozturk, S Keskin. (2013). Predicting gas separation performances of porous coordination networks using atomistic simulations. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research 52 (49), 17627–17639