Handan Acar

Assistant Professor

Email: hacar@ou.edu
Phone: (405) 325-0095
Office: GLG 319

Lab Website

Education
Ph.D., 2013, Materials Science and Nanotechnology – Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey

Research Focus

Our research efforts combine various interdisciplinary approaches to address the current limitations in clinical biomedical applications. To achieve this purpose, we use techniques to manipulate molecular-level interactions to design and synthesize materials with unique capabilities; for example:

self-assembling nanoparticles for site-specific delivery platforms,
the tracking of intracellular interactions using active cargo,
and activated self-assembly strategies for disrupting malignant cells.

A key aspect of our research is thus to harness nanomedicine for clinical translational applications.

Selected Publications

Acar, H.;Ting, J.; Srivastava,S.; LaBelle, J.L.; Tirrell, M.; Molecular Engineering Solutions for Therapeutic Peptide Delivery, Chemical Society Reviews, (2017).
Acar, H.; Samaeekia, R.; Schnorenberg, M.R.; Sasmal, D. K.; Tirrell, M. V.; LaBelle J.L.; Cathepsin-Mediated Cleavage of Peptides from Peptide Amphiphiles Leads to Enhanced Intracellular Peptide Accumulation; Bioconjugate Chemistry, (2017).
Barrett, J.C.; Mellas, M.J.; Acar, H.; Peptides in immunoengineering, Book Title: Peptide Applications in Biomedicine, Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Elsevier (2017).
Acar, H.; Srivastava,S.; Chung, E. J.; Schnorenberg, M.R.; Barrett, J.C.; LaBelle, J.L.; Tirrell, M.; Self-Assembling Peptide-Based Building Blocks in Medical Applications; Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews; accepted (2016).
Acar, H.; Banerjee, S.; Shi, H.; Jamshidi, R.; Hashemi, N.; Cho, M.; Montazami, R. Transient Biocompatible Polymeric Platforms for Long-Term Controlled Release of Therapeutic Proteins and Vaccines; Materials; 9(5), 321 (2016).
Okyay, A.K.; Hanoglu, O.; Yuksel, M.; Acar, H.; Sulek, S.; Tekcan, B.; Agan, S.; Biyikli, N.; Guler, M.O.; Using nanogap in label-free impedance based electrical biosensors to overcome electrical double layer effect; Microsystem Technologies; 1-9 (2015).
Acar, H.; Cinar, S.; Thunga, M.; Kessler, M.R.; Hashemi, N.; Montazami, R.; Study of physically transient insulating materials for transient and biocompatible electronics; Advanced Functional Materials; 24(26), 4135–4143 (2014).
Acar, H.; Garifullin, R.; Aygun, L.E.; Okyay, A.K.; Guler, M.O.; Amyloid-like peptide nanofiber templated titania nanostructures as dye sensitized solar cell anodic materials; Journal of Materials Chemistry A; 1, 10979-84 (2013).
Acar, H.; Karakışla, M.; Saçak, M.; Preparation and characterization of conductive polypyrrole/kaolinite composites; Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing; 16 845-50 (2013).
Acar, H.; Karakışla, M.; Saçak, M.; Preparation of potassium persulfate-mediated conducting polypyrrole/polyacrylonitrile composite fibers: humidity and temperature-sensing properties; Journal of Applied Polymer Science; 125, 3977-85 (2012).
Acar, H.; Genc, R.; Urel, M.; Erkal, T.S.; Dana, A.; Guler, M.O.; Self-assembled peptide nanofiber templated one-dimensional gold nanostructures exhibiting resistive switching; Langmuir; 28, 16347-54 (2012).
Turker, B.; Guner, H.; Ayas, S.; Ekiz, O.O.; Acar, H.; Guler, M.O.; Dana, A.; Grating coupler integrated photodiodes for plasmon resonance based sensing; Lab on A Chip; 11, 282-7 (2011).
Turker, B.; Guner, H.; Ayas, S.; Ekiz, O.O.; Acar, H.; Guler, M.O.; Dana, A.; Grating coupler integrated photodiodes for plasmon resonance based sensing in fluidic systems; Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO) Conference; pp.1-2, 1-6 May (2011).
Yildirim, A.; Acar, H.; Erkal, T.S.; Bayindir, M.; Guler, M.O.; Template-directed synthesis of silica nanotubes for explosive detection; ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces; 3, 4159-64 (2011).
Acar, H.; Garifullin, R.; Guler, M.O.; Self-assembled template-directed synthesis of one-dimensional silica and titania nanostructures; Langmuir; 27, 1079-84 (2011).
Toksoz, S.; Acar, H.; Guler, M.O.; Self-assembled one-dimensional soft nanostructures; Soft Matter; 6, 5839 (2010).

PATENTS

Patent granted: “Biomimetic template directed synthesis of one-dimensional nanostructures”; Acar, H., Guler, M.O., Garifullin, R., Turkish Patent Institute, Patent No: 2010/06049.
Nonprovisional patent application to USPTO: “Enzymatically Cleavable Peptide Amphiphiles"; Acar, H.; LaBelle, J.; Tirrell, M.; Reference Number UCHI 2601.