When Murat Can Cobanoglu was a child, he lost two grandparents to cancer. He recalls feeling helpless at their diagnosis, wishing there was a cure. This early experience sparked his interest in cancer diagnosis.
Now, the 2015 alumnus of the Joint Carnegie Mellon—University of Pittsburgh PhD Program in Computational Biology (CPCB) works as a staff bioinformatics scientist at Natera. Using a blood sample, Cobanoglu’s team can tell whether a patient has cancer or not. These liquid biopsy diagnostic tests are useful for early detection of cancer.
“It would have been nice if we could have detected it early and had better outcomes,” said Cobanoglu, recalling his grandparents’ diagnosis. “Now, we are working on things that can potentially avoid those feelings for other people and save human lives.”
Cobanoglu earned his bachelor’s degree in computer science and master’s degree in computational biology from Sabinci University in Istanbul. He then decided to continue his education and earn a PhD. The CPCB program stood out to him because of the combination of computer science and biology coursework. Other programs at the time focused on computer science.
“It really spoke to me the way the program was designed to be this marriage of the two disciplines,” Cobanoglu said. “And then Carnegie Mellon and Pitt were both very reputable institutions in their own fields.”
When he earned his acceptance into the program, Cobanoglu packed up his bags and moved from Turkey to Pittsburgh. This was his first time living outside of his home country. He was accustomed to friends and family being only a few hours away, but suddenly he was on his own. Fortunately, he found a support system in his classmates who helped him deal with academic pressure and the stress of living abroad.
“I made lifelong friends there,” Cobanoglu said. “My classmates really supported me during this time, and what sticks out to me is those friendship bonds we established.”
In addition to forming strong friendships, Cobanoglu also gained a foundation in disciplines ranging from genomics to machine learning through his coursework and department seminars. He said this foundation helped him as he moved into academia and industry jobs.
After graduation, Cobanoglu and his classmate Aaron Wise founded a startup through Project Olympus, Carnegie Mellon’s entrepreneurial incubator project. They built a machine learning software for high efficiency cancer drug discovery. He then landed a position as a distinguished fellow at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, where he launched his own lab that focused on AI-driven drug discovery. He transitioned to the industry sector in 2022.
“It’s very exciting work because my job is to take some of the toughest computational biology challenges we have and find solutions to them,” Cobanoglu said.
He finds satisfaction in knowing the tests his team are creating will improve patient outcomes. He dreams of a world where no more children will lose a loved one to cancer.
Cobanoglu offers advice for students considering careers in bioinformatics:
“Don’t underestimate any lectures or topics because you feel it is not useful to you at that moment,” he said. “You may be interested in one type of work now, but you don’t know what life will bring. Try and maximize your intake of information. Also, PhD coursework can be tough, but you should embrace it because when you finally conquer it, you’ll feel like nothing can bring you down in life.”