Rate My Professor Orkun Soyer

Professor Orkun Soyer is Professor of Systems Biology in the School of Life Sciences at the University of Warwick, a position he has held since 2013. His academic journey includes a PhD from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (2000-2004), and a BSc in Chemistry from Bogazici University, Istanbul (1993-2000). Prior appointments encompass Senior Lecturer in Systems Biology at the University of Exeter (2011-2013), Lecturer there (2009-2011), Researcher at the CoSBi (Microsoft Research & University of Trento Centre for Computational and Systems Biology) in Trento, Italy (2006-2009), and Postdoctoral Research Assistant with Prof. Sebastian Bonhoeffer at ETH Zurich (2004-2006). Soyer heads the OSS Lab, dedicated to developing predictive, quantitative understandings of cellular metabolism and metabolic interactions among cells. His research integrates mathematical modeling—employing differential equations and systems theory—with experiments including time-lapse microscopy and metabolic assays. Key foci include metabolic interactions in cyanobacterial microbial communities exhibiting macro-scale spatial organization, metabolism at the single-cell level in baker's yeast (S. cerevisiae), membrane potential dynamics using redox mediators and micro-fluidics in mammalian cells like HeLa and yeast, and the emergence and evolution of metabolic excretions.

Awards and honors include being one of 15 worldwide Gordon and Betty Moore Investigators since 2020, funding cyanobacterial community research, alongside Leverhulme project grants, and support from BBSRC, EPSRC, NSF, and Cancer Research UK. Honorary fellowships encompass Tokyo Science Earth-Life Science Institute (2026), Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (2026), and Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin (2014-2015). Notable publications feature 'Cellular coordination underpins rapid reversals in gliding filamentous cyanobacteria and its loss results in plectonemes' (Rosko et al., eLife, 2025), 'Niche formation and metabolic interactions contribute to stable diversity in a spatially structured cyanobacterial community' (Duxbury et al., ISME Journal, 2025), 'Dynamics of co-substrate pools can constrain and regulate metabolic fluxes' (West et al., eLife, 2023), 'Thioflavin T indicates mitochondrial membrane potential in mammalian cells' (Skates et al., Biophysical Reports, 2023), and 'Ammonia leakage can underpin nitrogen-sharing among soil microorganisms' (Richards et al., ISME Journal, 2024). He co-leads the Quantitative, Systems & Engineering Biology research cluster, teaches modules such as Dynamics of Biological Systems (LF305) and Synthetic Biology (LF306), and organizes workshops on microbial communities at institutions like the Isaac Newton Institute and NSF-Simons NITMB.