Burcu Nur Keçeli graduated with distinction from Boğaziçi University in Istanbul, Turkey, in 2014, earning dual Bachelor of Science degrees in Molecular Biology & Genetics and Chemistry. She then moved to Belgium to pursue her PhD in the Faculty of Bioscience Engineering at Ghent University) under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Danny Geelen. Her doctoral research focused on histone variants in the plant model Arabidopsis thaliana and supported by an EMBO fellowship, she also trained with Dr. Frédéric Berger at the Vienna BioCenter, a leading group in histone and chromatin biology.
During her PhD, Burcu realized her scientific interests extended beyond plant sciences and toward molecular mechanisms in immunology and cell biology. She subsequently joined the research group of Dr. Kodi Ravichandran at the UGent Center for Inflammation Research, where she contributed to projects on apoptotic cell clearance (efferocytosis) by dendritic cells.
It is increasingly recognized that immune cells shape their gene‑expression programs through dynamic regulation of histone composition and post‑translational modifications. Yet, the “histone code” governing phagocyte‑mediated cell clearance remains largely unexplored. Under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Sophia Maschalidi, Burcu’s current research focuses on uncovering the role of histone biology in phagocytes during cell clearance.
