(CHIEF EDITOR)

(CHIEF EDITOR)

Hikmet Geckil is a Turkish academic who received PhD degree in Molecular Biology at Illinois Institute of Technology (Chicago, IL). A one year postdoctoral study at Ben Gurion University and a Fulbright Fellowship for 6 months at Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are among his science endeavors. His research is in the area of genetic engineering. His current affiliation is with the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics at Inonu University.

Research in Geckil’s Genetic Engineering Laboratory is primarily based on the function of Vitreoscilla hemoglobin (VHb), the first prokaryotic hemoglobin. Using VHb, Geckil’s group engineered various bacteria for the purpose of producing industrially important products ranging from microbial fuels butanediol, acetoin to drugs used in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson disease (e.g., dopa, dopamine) and to asparaginase, an enzyme used in cancer chemotherapy. One of the recent endeavors of his laboratory is to dissect the anatomy of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike (S) protein and its physiological effects on cells. For this aim, his laboratory is studying the expression of S and its effect on cell physiology, using recombinant shuttle vectors created in his laboratory.

Geckil has published in the areas of biochemistry, biomedicine, and biotechnology, and has over 40 peer-reviewed publications. He is the Editor of “Virolojinin Prensipleri (Cilt I): Moleküler Biyoloji” and Co-Editor of “Virolojinin Prensipleri (Cilt II): Patogenez ve Kontrol“, the Turkish version of Principles of Virology (Volume I): Molecular Biology and Principles of Virology (Volume II): Patogenesis and Control, respectively. He is also the lead editor of the Moleküler Hücre Biyolojisi, the Turkish version of the highly acclaimed textbook “Molecular Cell Biology” by Harvey Lodish et al. He is also the editor of Biyokimya, the Turkish translated version of “Instant Notes in Biochemistry” by David Hames and Nigel Hooper. Dr. Geckil is also the author of two volume Biyokimya coursebook: Biyokimya I and Biyokimya II. He has serving on the editorial board of several international scientific journals, including the Biotechnology Journal (Wiley) and the Turkish Journal of Biology (TUBITAK).

Dr. Alevcan KAPLAN currently works at the Department of Crop and Animal Production, University of Batman. Her current research interest is geared towards health sciences with a deep-rooted interest in biomedical sciences, biopharmaceutical sciences, bioinformatic, biomedicine, and natural products, medicinal chemistry, in vitro, models, functional foods, complementary and alternative medicines/ traditional medicines, ethnopharmacology, herbal medicines.

Dr. Abdul Bari Shah is a Research Professor at Korea University, specializing in natural products from plants, fungi, and bacteria. He completed his postdoc at the Natural Products Research Institute, Seoul National University, and holds a PhD in Organic and Natural Product Chemistry from Gyeongsang National University. His expertise includes NMR, LCMS, molecular networking, enzyme kinetics, antioxidant studies, cell culture, and antimicrobial assays. His current research focuses on bioactive small molecules from foods, microbes, probiotics, plants, and fungi, as well as developing dereplication methods and spectral databases. Dr. Shah is dedicated to advancing drug discovery and human health.

Dr. Muhammad Nauman Khan completed his PhD at Islamia College Peshawar, Pakistan. With over seven years of dedicated research experience, he has been actively involved in collecting, documenting, and preserving endemic and high-value medicinal plants. His work includes comprehensive ecological assessments, habitat characterization, and the evaluation of plant distribution patterns, as well as investigations into the indigenous pharmacological significance of medicinal plants and the mineral and proximate analysis of selected high-altitude species from Pakistan. Dr. Khan has conducted detailed phytochemical and metabolite analyses using advanced techniques such as thin-layer chromatography (TLC), gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC‑MS), and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). His efforts have also contributed to the development of herbarium specimens and digital databases, ensuring accurate identification and cataloging of plant species for future research and conservation. He has published over 80 research articles in Q1/Q2 journals, accumulating more than 1,000 citations, with an h-index of 17 and i10-index of 33. Additionally, he has authored 26 articles in national journals and 23 book chapters in Springer, Elsevier, and CRC Press publications. He also serves on the Editorial Board of Ethnobotany Research and Applications.