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Zehra Sayers
Zehra Sayers (born 25 September 1953) is a Turkish-British structural biologist. She has previously served as Interim President of the Sabancı University (February–November 2018) and co-chaired the scientific advisory committee for Synchrotron-Light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East (SESAME). She was part of a five-scientist group that received the AAAS Award for Science Diplomacy in 2019. She holds Turkish and British citizenship.[2] Early life and educationSayers was born in Turkey. She studied physics at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul. For her postgraduate studies Sayers moved to the United Kingdom. In 1978 she earned a doctorate for research done at King's College London GKT School of Medical Education, the degree was awarded by the University of London.[3][4][5] Sayers worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the Open University and the Wallenberg Laboratory, Uppsala University.[6][2] In 1986 she was the first woman staff scientist to be appointed to the Hamburg outstation of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory,[6][7] where she used synchrotron radiation to study cytoskeletal proteins and chromatin.[4] Whilst working in Germany she obtained her habilitation[7] in 1996[2] with a thesis from the University of Hamburg. Research and careerIn 1998 Sayers returned to Turkey, joining the founding faculty of Sabancı University[8] as the partner of Ahmet Evin.[1] Established by the Turkish industrial and financial conglomerate Hacı Ömer Sabancı Holding A.Ş., Sabancı University was the first and only university where Sayers served as faculty member: she was Director of the Foundation Development Program in 2010 and Interim President from February to November 2018.[6][9] Her research has considered recombinant protein production, and has considered the structure of chromatin fibres and filamentous proteins.[6] She looks to identify the relationship between structure and function in macromolecules.[2] At Sabancı University, Sayers was involved in undergraduate teaching, developing an interdisciplinary, liberal arts, curriculum for science teaching.[4] She became professor emerita in 2022.[5] Sayers became involved with the Synchrotron-Light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East (SESAME)[10] project since 2000. The light source was inaugurated in 2017 by Abdullah II of Jordan.[11] She believes that synchrotron light sources are an effective way to integrate scientists from different disciplines and nationalities.[12] During her time as Co-chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee, more than 100 young scientists were trained to use the synchrotron radiation.[12] She held her position as Co-chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee of SESAME from 2002 to 2018.[4][13] Sayers has worked as an advisor for the Turkish Accelerator Center Project, supported by the Turkish state.[6] Together with Eliezer Rabinovici, she spoke about the international collaborations that are part of SESAME at TEDxCERN in 2013.[14] Selected publications
Awards and honoursShe was awarded the EuroScience Rammal Award in 2017, which recognised her contributions to building the scientific programme of SESAME.[4][15] In 2019 Sayers became the first person of joint Turkish and British citizenship to win the AAAS Award for Science Diplomacy, as part of a group of five scientists receiving the award for their contributions to SESAME.[16][17] Later that year she was named as one of the BBC 100 Women in 2019.[18] References
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