The Cortera team, comprising five students from the fields of chemistry, chemical engineering, industrial engineering, molecular biology, and medicine, won first place in the Onkoloji 3T oncology competition held as part of TEKNOFEST Güneydoğu in Turkey. The team works under the supervision of Doç. Dr. Berat İlhan Ceylan of the Department of Chemistry at the Faculty of Engineering of İstanbul-Cerrahpaşa University, with support from Can Sağlığı Vakfı and participation from students at İstanbul Üniversitesi-Cerrahpaşa, Yıldız Teknik Üniversitesi, and Koç Üniversitesi.
The project focuses on developing an artificial intelligence-supported approach to treating glioblastoma, one of the most aggressive types of brain cancer. According to Sinem Taş, a team member and chemical and industrial engineering student, the project uses deep-learning techniques to help identify suitable drug combinations and then load these drugs into nanoparticles.
How does the proposed approach work?
The team seeks to coat the surface of the nanoparticles with proteins that help them cross the blood-brain barrier while targeting more than one disease-related mechanism at the same time. The team says the goal is to develop a method that can limit the spread of brain tumors, rather than merely designing a new molecule independently of its delivery mechanism.
The students conducted laboratory work to validate the project’s results, but the source material does not present detailed data on the molecule’s efficacy or safety, or on tests in animal or human models. Therefore, winning the competition represents recognition of the research project and an important milestone for the team, not evidence of readiness for clinical treatment.
What changes in practical terms?
The project’s technical value lies in combining computational drug-compound selection with the design of a nanodelivery system to address the obstacle posed by the blood-brain barrier. The team’s composition also demonstrates the importance of collaboration among chemistry, engineering, biology, and medicine disciplines when developing a complex drug candidate. The supervisor and team aim to move the work to more advanced stages after the win, without specifying a timeline or publicly announced development pathway.
More than 400 teams participated in the competition, and Cortera presented its project before a panel of eight judges in Şanlıurfa. The supervisor said the team worked intensively for months and that the project was dedicated to Dr. Büşra Kaya, who died of cancer.
For the technical reader, the news highlights the use of artificial intelligence as a tool within a broader research chain involving drug selection, nan engineering, and laboratory validation. Open questions concern the molecule or formulation’s ability to demonstrate reproducible efficacy, its safety, and its actual ability to cross the blood-brain barrier—matters that the source has not resolved.