Dr. Pınar Çalık is Professor of Chemical Reaction Engineering, focusing on biocatalysis and biochemical reaction engineering. Professor Çalık’s Lab comprises the  “Industrial Biotechnology and Metabolic Engineering” and “Biocatalysis and Biochemical Reaction Engineering” Laboratories.  Professor Çalık has been an Associate Editor for the Journal of Applied Microbiology and Letters in Applied Microbiology since 2007, and she was a Guest Editor of the Biotechnology Journal’s Special Issue on Biotechnology in Turkey. Professor Çalık is presently the Head of the Department of Biotechnology,  Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences.

She received her Doctorate (Ph.D.) in Chemical Engineering from Ankara University in 1998. Between 1998-1999 she was a Lecturer at Ankara University. From 1999-2006 she was Associate Professor at METU; since 2006, she has been working as a Professor at METU. Professor Çalık is a recipient of the Turkish Academy of Sciences Distinguished Young Scientists Award.

Her “Industrial Biotechnology and Metabolic Engineering Research Group” is currently researching the production of recombinant proteins, i.e., industrial enzymes and pharmaceutical proteins, and starting carbon compounds for chemical process industries (CPIs), by Bacillus species, E.coli and Pichia pastoris. Areas of expertise include research on the effect of bioreactor operating parameters on productivity and selectivity, studies on intracellular reaction networks, modeling and analysis of intracellular reaction networks, metabolic engineering in P. pastoris, catalysis via metabolic engineering, and targeted biomimetic chemisorption-based protein affinity purification.

Teaching

2025-2026 Spring

CHE 311 – Chemical Reaction Engineering

CHE 320 – Chemical Engineering Laboratory I 

CHE 498 – Topics in Chemical Engineering I

CHE 499 – Topics in Chemical Engineering II

2025-2026 Fall

CHE 311 – Chemical Reaction Engineering

CHE 517 – Metabolic Engineering 

CHE 498 – Topics in Chemical Engineering I

CHE 499 – Topics in Chemical Engineering II

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Honors and Awards

-Turkish Academy of Science Distinguished Young Scientists Award, 2002

-Professor Tarık G. Somer  Academic Achievement Award, METU, 2001

-The British Council Bursary: UMIST & University of Newcastle upon Tyne, April-May 1998

-NATO  Fellowship TUBITAK : (Scientific & Technical Research Council of Turkey), 1996
(University  of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology)

-The British Council Bursary, Jan-Feb 1996
(University of  Manchester  Institute of  Science and Technology  (UMIST)

-Ph.D. Bursary TUBITAK (Scientific & Technical Research Council of Turkey), 1994-1998

-M.Sc. Bursary TUBITAK (Scientific & Technical Research Council of Turkey), 1993 – 1994