The 6th Suna Kıraç Conference was held online on 19-20 April 2024 at Koç University. The Conference entitled "Advances in Gene and Molecular Therapies for Neurodegenerative Diseases: Recent Subcellular and Clinical Insights" kicked off with the Welcome Address of İpek Kıraç and was the first meeting after the passing of Suna Kıraç. The eleven speakers from prestigious institutions in the USA and Europe, such as UMass, Harvard, Kings College London, NIH, Johns Hopkins and Oxford Universities, were world authorities and were brought together considering their multifaceted approach to the subject. As always, the speakers contributed unpublished most recent studies to the meeting.
Topics, including discovery of novel genes and gene targeting, subcellular insights to selective vulnerability, non-neuronal pathology in neurodegenerative diseases and dysfunction of RNA processing in circuit-specific neurologic diseases were exhaustively discussed. The last lecture of the meeting, dedicated to the memory of Suna Kıraç, delineated the genetic structure of the ethnically very wealthy Anatolian peninsula as a rich genetic pool and the complex molecular architecture of ALS in Turkey, so far an under-investigated population at the molecular level. The meeting successfully concluded with an interactive session on sporadic ALS.
The Istanbul Research Institute continues to offer free guided tours of the exhibition The Photography Studio of an Adventurous Architect: Arif Hikmet Koyunoğlu 1893–1982, which sheds light on the life of one of the most unconventional architects of his time, spanning the late Ottoman and early Republican periods.
The catalogue Extraordinary Minas: The Story of Inspiration and Innovation in Kütahya Tiles and Ceramics examines the efforts of Kütahya masters in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to revive the disappearing craftsmanship of tile-making by focusing on a master and a group of his work, by presenting objects from the Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation Kütahya Tiles and Ceramics Collection.
On October 11, International Day of the Girl, Suna’nın Kızları organized the “Girls Stronger Together Forum” in Hatay, where girls shared their ideas on making their city safer, more accessible, and more inclusive.