Our History
Founded on a solid foundation of 35 years of research expertise, VLPtech was established by Prof. Dr. İhsan Gürsel and Prof. Dr. Mayda Gürsel. Our journey began with a clear mission: to harness the vast experience gained from years of research to benefit humanity.
Mission & Vision
With a commitment to innovation, our goal is to develop advanced therapeutic models that offer significant efficacy with minimal side effects. Our founders' unique insights and profound expertise are pivotal in guiding VLPtech towards pioneering the next generation of immunomodulatory treatments using ODN and EV technologies.
Driving Biotech Advances
At VLPtech, we believe in pushing the boundaries of biotechnology to create solutions that not only address current health challenges but also pave the way for new therapeutic possibilities. Our research-driven approach ensures that every product we develop is a step towards a healthier future.
Prof. Dr. İhsan Gürsel
Cofounder and CEO
Prof. Dr. Ihsan Gursel, is the previous Director of Izmir Biomedicine and Genome Center (IBG). He is leading the ThorLab on Adjuvant Innovation and Nanobiotechnology Research Laboratory. He spent more than thirty years of his career working in different research and government institutes. His research focus is on immunology, vaccinology, nanomedicine, and biomaterials. He engaged in R&D activities aiming to understand the immunomodulatory properties of DNA on mammalian immune system and attempts to develop more effective treatment modalities to cancer, autoimmune, autoinflammatory diseases as well as infectious diseases with an interdisciplinary approach. During his Academic career, he supervised more than 50 graduate thesis and published over 95 refereed articles and book chapters along with a dozen of patent filings. He co-pioneered the development of the virus like particle (VLP) vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 virus, the only vaccine candidate harboring all four structural protein antigens known to reach first in human clinical trials during COVID-19 pandemic era. He has received over 13000 citations (H-Factor: 44). He is a full-member of Academy of Sciences of Turkiye and current president of the Turkish Society of Immunology (2022-2025).
Prof. Dr. Mayda Gürsel
Cofounder and CSO
Prof. Dr. Mayda Gursel, received her PhD degree from University of London, The School of Pharmacy in 1995. Dr. Gursel’s research is focused on pattern recognition receptor ligands and their therapeutic applications as immune modulators and vaccine adjuvants. From 1998 to 2006, Dr. Gursel worked at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) at NIH Campus first as a post-doctoral fellow and then as a senior scientist regulating viral vaccine products. Prof Gursel, joined Izmir Biomedicine and Genome Center (IBG) in 2022. At IBG Prof Gursel tries to decipher the mechanism and immunotherapeutic applications of Innate immune system sensors. Additionally, another line of research includes investigation of the immunomodulatory effects of microbial derived extracellular vesicles along with design of effective adjuvants and vaccines against infectious diseases. She is heavily investing her efforts to reveal the immunological manifestations of primary immune deficiencies along with understanding the mechanisms of immune dysregulation.
Meet the Team
Finance and Procurement
Elif Sena Özkoç
Elif is an IYTE, MBG Department graduate (Izmir, Turkiye). She is the department manager. Before joining VLPtech, she assumed managerial and technical positions at different genetics and biomimetics research laboratories.
Associate Scientist
Ibrahim Tokmak
Before joining VLPtech, Ibrahim worked as a researcher at different institutes and laboratories. He is responsible from the EV therapy projects. His focus is to bring EV-based therapeutic vaccine efforts against complex/chronic diseases to clinic.
Associate Scientist- Assay Development
Dicle Çalışkan
She is graduated from the MBG department of IYTE University (Izmir, Turkiye). She is responsible from ODN therapy projects along with assay development.
Research Scientist
Harun Önler
Harun joined VLPtech as an experienced research scientist overseeing EV and liposome technology development projects. His responsibilities are to optimize and to characterize biotherapeutic ligand loading within nanovesicles.