• Identification and characterization of lactic acid bacteria.
• Rapid and sensitive detection for lactic acid bacteria and pathogenic microorganisms (Salmonella) in foods using molecular typing methods: Taxonomic studies using PCR techniques. RAPD-PCR, PFGE applications for typing studies for some lactic acid bacteria, wine yeasts, Salmonella isolates.
• Food plant sanitation and hygiene, HACCP, Risk assessment, ISO22000
• Probiotics Analysis of Genetically Modified Organisms in foods and Regulations.
• Genetically Modified (GM) Foods and Detection methods of genetic modification in foods.
• Genetically Modified Microorganisms.
• Wine production, wine starter cultures, Non-Saccharomyces wine starter cultures and indigenous flora.

• Work Experience
• Research Assistant, June1985 - June 89: 
  Department of Food Engineering, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey 
• Doctoral Fellow, June 1989 – January 1991DSM (Deutsche Sammlung von Microorganizmen and Zellkulturen :The German National Culture Collection), Braunschweig, Germany.
• Assistant Professor, January 1992-June 1998Department of Food Engineering , Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey 
• Postdoctoral fellow, May, 1993 – October 1993Kent University and Cranfield Institute of Science and Technology, Biotechnology department
• Post doctoral fellow, May 1994- October 1994TNO, Nutrition and Food Research, Biotechnology Institute, Zeist, The Netherlands.
• Associate Professor June 1998-August 2010:Department of Food Engineering, Middle East Technical University, Ankara Turkey 
• Professor August 2010 -March 2022 
  Department of Food Engineering Department, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey 
• Head of Graduate Program of Biochemistry, 2010 June -2012 June 
  Graduate Program of Biochemistry, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey 
• Head of Graduate Program of Biotechnology, September 2021 December – 2022 MarchGraduate Program of Biotechnology, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey 
• Education
• B.Sc., Department of Biology, 1979-1984 
  Middle East Technical University, Ankara 
• M.Sc., Biochemistry, 1984-1987Middle East Technical University, Ankara
• PhD, Biochemistry, 1987-1991
  Middle East Technical University, Ankara 
• The courses given 
• Food Microbiology, Microbiology, Food Pant Sanitation, Food Biochemistry, Advanced Food Microbiology, Applied Genetics, Biology.
• Grants and Fellowships awarded
• PhD fellowship: German Culture Collection (DSM), Braunshweig, Germany.  Identification of lactic acid bacteria.
• Post Doctoral Fellowship (1993): Kent University and Cranfield Institute of Science and Technology, Biotechnology department, Cloning and expression of bacterial alpha-amylase gene. Royal Society (European Scientific Exchange Program).
• Post Doctoral Fellowship (1994): TNO, Nutrition and Food Research, Biotechnology Institute, Zeist, The Netherlands. A study on development of probes of plantaricin F from L. plantarum F123 using PCR (polymerase chain reaction). Dutch Embassy in Turkey.
• Projects Financially Supported
• Identification of Salmonella serotypes by RAPD-PCR. Supported by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK), (researcher) 1994.
• Probe preparation for bacteriocin gene using degenerate primers. Supported by Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) (coordinator), 1995. - Plasmid stability and alpha-amylase production of Bacillus subtilis, by METU (supervisor) 1994. Project number was 94-03-14-05. (coordinator)
• ‘’Effects of gamma irradiation on the survival of Listeria monocytogenes and on its growth at refrigeration temperature in poultry and red meat’’, by Turkish Atomic Energy Authority (TAEK) under the project number 95503703. (coordinator) (1996)
• Detection of genetically modified organisms in tomato and tomato seeds. Supported by Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) (coordinator) (2005-2007).
• Production of yogurt and cheese starter cultures, lactase enzyme for dairy industry: traditional solutions for lactose intolerance. DPT Project: 2005K120570, 2005-2007.
• FP7 project: GMSAFOOD. Proposal full title: GM-Biomarkers for post market monitoring of short and long term effects of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) on animal and human health. WP 7 together with TROYKA (Teknokent Company, METU): Collection and statistical analysis of data for biomarkers for post-market monitoring, mathematical modeling of data for post market monitoring using biomarkars.
• Türkiye’de Önemli Yerel Şarap Üretim Bölgelerine Özel Üzüm Çeşitleri Şıralarında ve Doğal Olarak Fermente Edilmiş Şaraplarında Saccharomyces Haricinde Kalan (Non-Saccharomyces) ve Saccharomyces Mayaların Çeşitliliği: Tespit, Miktar Belirleme, Tanı, Teknolojik ve Moleküler Karakterizasyon, Multi-Starter Kültür ve Şarap Üretimi . Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) Project: 116O521, 2017-2020.

1. Bozoglu T.F. and G.C. Gürakan, 1989. Freeze-drying injury of Lactobacillus acidophilus. J. Food Protec. 52, 259-260. DOI:10.4315/0362-028X-52.4.259
2. Gürakan, G.C., T.F. Bozoglu, N. Weiss, 1995. Identification of Lactobacillus strains from Turkish-style dry fermented sausages. Lebensmittel Wissenschaft und Technologie. 28, 139-144. DOI: 10.1016/S0023-6438(95)80026-3   
3. Gürsel, B. and G.C. Gürakan. 1997. Effects of gamma irradiation on the survival of Listeria monocytogenes and on its growth at refrigeration temperature in poultry and red meat. Poultry Science, 76, 1661-1664. DOI: 10.1093/ps/76.12.1661
4. Gürakan, G.C., A. Bayindirli, B.Z. Ögel, P. Tanboga. 1998. Stability of a recombinant plasmid carrying alpha-amylase gene in Bacillus subtilis . The World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology, 14, no.2, 293-295.
5. Chirica, L.C., Güray, T., Gürakan, G.C., Bozoglu, T.F. 1998. Characterization of extracellular -lactamases from penicillin G-resistant cells of Streptococcus
   thermophilus. Journal of Food Protection, 61, no. 7, 896-898. DOI: 10.4315/0362-028x-61.7.896
6. Icgen, B., Gürakan, G.C., Özcengiz, G. 2001. Effects of plasmid curing on antibiotic susceptibility, phage type, lipopolysaccharide and outer membrane protein profiles in local Salmonella isolates. Food Microbiology 18, 631-635. DOI: 06/fmic.2001.0437
7. Icgen, B., Gürakan, G.C., Özcengiz, G. 2002. Characterization of Salmonella Enteritidis isolates of chicken, egg and human origin from Turkey. Food Microbiology, 19, 375-382. DOI: 10.1006/fmic.2002.0479
8. Icgen, B., Gürakan, G.C., Özcengiz, G. 2002. Characterization of local isolates of Enterobacteriaceae from Turkey. Microbiological Research 157, 233-238. DOI: 10.1078/0944-5013-00155
9. Cebeci, Aysun, Gürakan, C. 2003. Properties of potential probiotic strains of L.plantarum. Food Microbiology, 20, 511-518. DOI: 10.1016/s0740-0020(02)00174-0
   Isıker, G. Gürakan G.C., Bayindili, A. 2003. Combined effect of high hydrostatic pressure treatment and hydrogen peroxide on Salmonella Enteritidis in liquid whole egg. European Food Research and Technology, 217, 244-248. DOI: 10.1007/s00217-
   003-0759-3
10. Çataloluk, O, Gürakan, C.G. 2003. Characterization of salivaricin B, A protein expressed by Lactobacillus salivarius M7. Turkish Journal of Biology, 27, 131-136 
11. Das, E., Gürakan, G.C., Bayindirli, A. 2006. Effect of controlled atmosphere storage, modified atmosphere packaging, gaseous ozone treatment on the survival of Salmonella Enteritidis on cherry tomatoes. Food Microbiology, 23, 430-438.
    DOI: 10.1016/j.fm.2005.08.002 
12. Öztürkoglu, S, Gürakan, G.C., Alpas, H. 2006. Behaviour and control of Listeria innocua during manufacture and storage of Turkish White cheese. Eur. Food Res. Technol ., 222, 614-621. DOI:10.1007/s00217-005-0197-5
13. Gürakan G.C., Aksoy, C., Oren, G., Ogel Z.B. 2008. Differentiation of Salmonella
    Typhimirium from Salmonella Enteritidis and other Salmonella serotypes using Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Analysis. Poultry Science 87, 1068 – 1074.
    DOI:10.3382/ps.2007-00355
14. Cebeci. A., Gurakan, G.C. 2008. Molecular method for the identification of Lactobacillus delbruckii subsp. bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus using methionine biosynthesis and 16SrRNA genes. Journal of Dairy Research, 75, No: 4, 392-398. DOI: 10.1017/s0022029908003543
15. Kara, F., Gurakan, G.C. Sanin D., 2008. Monovalent cations and their influence on activated sludge floc chemistry, structure and physical characteristics. Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 100, 231-239 DOI: 10.1002/bit.21755
16. Kayagil, Fulya and G. Candan Gurakan. 2009. Effects of starter culture combinations using isolates from traditional cheese of Turkish white cheese, International Journal of Dairy Technology, 62, 387-396.
17. Gürakan, G.C., Aydin, G. and Yilmaz, R. 2011. Qualitative detection of GM maize (Bt 11) in food and feed sold commercially in Turkey by PCR based methods. Indian Journal of Biotechnology, 10: 143-146. 
18. Cebeci, A. and Gurakan, G.C. 2011. Comparative typing of L. delbruckeii subsp bulgaricus strains using multilocus sequence typing and RAPD-PCR. European Food Research and Technology 233, 377-385. DOI: 10.1007/s00217-011-1526-5
19. Ghazi, F., Benmechernene, Z., Kihal, M., Gurakan, G.C. 2013. The reproducibility of random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) profiles of Streptococcus thermophilus strains with XD9, M13 and OPI-02 MOD primers. African Journal of Biotechnology, 12,6245- 6252. DOI: 10.5897/ajb2013.12870
20. Nielsen, B., Gurakan G.C., Unlu G. 2014. Kefir: a multifaceted fermented dairy product. Probiotics and antimicrobial Proteins, 6:123–135. DOI: 10.1007/s12602-
    014-9168-0
21. Altay-Dede,N., Acar-Soykut E., Gurakan, G.C 2014. Phenotypic diversity and technological properties of yogurt cultures isolated from traditionally produced Turkish yogurts with comparison to commercial starter cultures. Ital. J. Food Sci, 26, 308-316.
22. Gökduman K., Avşaroğlu, M.D., Cakır, A., Üstek D., Gurakan, G.C. 2016. Recombinant plasmid-based quantitative Real-Time PCR anlysis of Salmonella enterica serotypes and its application to milk samples. Journal of Microbiological methods. 122, 50-58.
23. Ghazi F., Kihal, M., Altay, N. Gurakan G.C. 2016. Comparison of RAPD-PCR and PFGE analysis for the typing of Streptococcus thermophilus strains isolated from traditional Turkish yogurts. Annals of Microbiology, 66, 1013-1026. DOI 10.1007/s13213-015-1185-z.
24. Murdoch F. K. , Murdoch R. W. , Gurakan C. , Sanin F. D. 2018. Change of microbial community composition in anaerobic digesters during the degradation of nonylphenol diethoxylate. International Biodeterioration & Biodegredation, 135: 1-8. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.ibiod.2018.09.002
25. Leylak, C., Ozdemir, K.S., Gurakan. G.C., Ogel. Z. B. 2021. Optimization of spray drying parameters of Lactobacillus acidophilus encapsulation in whey and gum arabic: its application in yoghurt. International dairy journal, 112, 104865. 
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.idairyj.2020.104865
26. Gurakan, G.C., Aktuna I., Seyedmonir, E. 2022. Diversity of wild yeasts during spontaneous fermentation of wines from local grape varieties in Turkey. American Journal of Enology Viticulture 73, :4, 307-319. http:// doi.10.5344/ajev.2022.22001
27. Gurakan, G.C., Allahyari, N., Genotypic Diversity of Hanseniaspora opuntia strains isolated from spontaneously fermented grape must and wine. American Journal of Enology and Viticulture. Accepted.

1. Gürakan, G.C. and Altay, N. Yogurt Microbiology and Biochemistry In Development and Manufacture of Yogurt and other Functional Dairy Products, Fatih Yıldız (Ed). 2010. CRC Press Taylor and Francis Group, Fl, USA. (ISBN: 978-1- 4200- 8207-8).

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