Can Alkan
Contact
Information
Department of Computer Engineering
Voice: (+90) 312-290-2912
Bilkent University
Fax: (+90) 312-266-4047
Engineering Building, EA 509
E-mail: calkan@cs.bilkent.edu.tr
Bilkent, Ankara 06800
ORCID: 0000-0002-5443-0706
Turkey
ResearcherID: D-2982-2009
Research
Interests
Combinatorial algorithms for the analysis of next-generation sequencing data, genomic structural
variation, human and primate segmental duplications.
Education
University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
Department of Genome Sciences and Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Postdoctoral Fellow, Genomics, October 2005 - December 2011
• Worked on computational methods to reconstruct the evolutionary history of alpha-satellite
DNA, de novo alphoid sequence prediction from whole-genome shotgun sequence data, and
detection of human structural variation and segmental duplications using next-generation
sequencing technologies.
• Advisor: Evan E. Eichler
Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Department of EECS
Ph.D., Computer Science, August 2005
• Dissertation Topic: “Computational Studies on Evolution and Functionality of Genomic Re-
peats”
• Advisor: S. Cenk S
¸ahinalp
Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey
Department of Computer Engineering
B.Sc., Computer Science, May, 2000
Experience
Department of Computer Engineering, Bilkent University, Bilkent, Ankara, Turkey
Assistant Professor
January 2012 - present
Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
Acting Assistant Professor
June 2011 - December 2011
Senior Fellow
October 2005 - May 2011
School of Computing Science, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
Visiting Researcher
January, 2004 - September 2005
Research Grants
• National Institutes of Health (R01 HG006004), 2011-2015
Title: Novel algorithms and hardware designs for ultra-fast next-gen sequence analysis
Goal: Developing specialized hardware architectures to accelerate mapping reads generated with
the high throughput sequencing platforms.
PI: Onur Mutlu
Co-PI: Can Alkan
• European Union Marie Curie Actions Career Integration Grant (PCIG10-GA-2011-303772), 2012-
2016
Title: Integrated approaches for genomic variation discovery using high throughput sequencing
Goal: Developing novel combinatorial algorithms to comprehensively and quickly discover ge-
nomic variation.
PI: Can Alkan
• Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey (T ¨
UB˙ITAK-1001-112E135), 2012-2015
Title: Development and application of novel genome assembly algorithms that use multiple data
sources
Goal: Developing assembly algorithms to more reliably construct de novo genome assemblies
using data from multiple sources.
PI: Can Alkan
• European Molecular Biology Organization Installlation Grant (IG-2521), 2013-2016
Title: Development and application of computational methods to analyze next generation se-
quence data to characterize both normal and disease causing variation, and build de novo genome
assemblies
Goal: Analysis of biological sequences generated with the next-gen sequencing platforms.
PI: Can Alkan
Publications
Journal Publications
Joint first authors are marked with * in case of equal contribution. Joint last authors are marked with ‡.
Fast and accurate mapping of Complete Genomics reads. D. Lee, F. Hormozdiari, H. Xin, F. Hach,
O. Mutlu
‡
, C. Alkan
‡
. Methods, Jun;79-80:3-10, 2015.
Shifted Hamming Distance: a fast and accurate SIMD-friendly filter to accelerate alignment
verification in read mapping. H. Xin, J. Greth, J. Emmons, G. Pekhimenko, C. Kingsford, C. Alkan
‡
,
O. Mutlu
‡
. Bioinformatics, May 15;31(10):1553-60, 2015.
Activating mutations of STAT5B and STAT3 in lymphomas derived from γδ-T or NK cell.s
C. Kucuk, B. Jiang, X. Hu, W. Zhang, J. Chan, W. Xiao, N. Lack, C. Alkan, J. Williams, K. Avery, P.
Kavak, A. Scuto, E. Sen, P. Gaulard, L. Staudt, J. Iqbal, W. Zhang, A. Cornish, Q. Gong, Q. Yang, H. Sun,
F. d’Amore, S. Lepp¨
a, W. Liu, K. Fu, L. de Leval, T. McKeithan. Nature Communications, Jan 14;6:6025,
2015.
Whole genome sequencing of Turkish genomes reveals functional private alleles and impact of
genetic interactions with Europe, Asia and Africa. C. Alkan, P. Kavak, M. Somel, O. Gokcumen,
S. U˘
gurlu, E. Dal, K. Bu˘
gra-Bilge, T. G¨
ung¨
or, S.C. Sahinalp, N. ¨
Oz¨
oren, C. Bekpen. BMC Genomics, 15
(1):963, 2014.
Comparative analysis of the domestic cat genome reveals genetic signatures underlying feline
biology and domestication. M.J. Montague, G. Li, B. Gandolfi, R. Khan, B.L. Aken, S.M.J. Searle, P.
Minx, L. Hillier, D.C. Koboldt, B.W. Davis, C.A. Driscoll, C.S. Barr, K. Blackistone, J. Quilez, B. Lorente-
Galdos, T. Marques-Bonet, C. Alkan, G.W.C. Thomas, M. W. Hahn, M. Menotti-Raymond, S.J. O’Brien,
R. Wilson, L.A. Lyons, W.J. Murphy, W.C. Warren. Proc Natl Acad Sci, Dec 2;111(48):17230-17235, 2014.
Annotated features of domestic cat – Felis catus genome. G. Tamazian, S. Simonov, P. Dobrynin, A.
Makunin, A. Logachev, A. Komissarov, A. Shevchenko, V. Brukhin, N. Cherkasov, A. Svitin, K-P. Koepfli,
J. Pontius, C. A Driscoll, K. Blackistone, C. Barr, D. Goldman, A. Antunes, J. Quilez, B. Lorente-Galdos,
C. Alkan, T. Marques-Bonet, M. Menotti-Raymond, V.A. David, K. Narfstr¨
om, S.J. O’Brien. GigaScience,
Aug 5; 3:(13), 2014.
mrsFAST-Ultra: a compact, SNP-aware mapper for high performance sequencing applica-
tions. F. Hach
∗
, I. Sarrafi
∗
, F. Hormozdiari, C. Alkan, E.E. Eichler, S.C. Sahinalp. Nucl Acids Research,
Jul;42(Web Server issue):W494-500, 2014.
Early postzygotic mutations contribute to de novo variation in a healthy monozygotic twin
pair. G.M. Dal, B. Erg¨
uner, M.S. Sa˘
gıro˘
glu, B. Y¨
uksel, O.E. Onat, C. Alkan, T. ¨
Oz¸
celik. J Med Genet,
51(7):455-459, 2014.
Genome Sequencing Highlights the Dynamic Early History of Dogs. A.H. Freedman, I. Gronau,
R.M. Schweizer, D. Ortega-Del Vecchyo, E. Han, P.M. Silva, M. Galaverni, Z. Fan, P. Marx, B. Lorente-
Galdos, H. Beale, O. Ramirez, F. Hormozdiari, C. Alkan, C. Vil`
a, K. Squire, E. Geffen, J. Kusak, A.R.
Boyko, H.G. Parker, C. Lee, V. Tadigotla, A. Siepel, C.D. Bustamante, T.T. Harkins, S.F. Nelson, E.A.
Ostrander, T. Marques-Bonet, R.K. Wayne, J. Novembre. PLoS Genetics, 10(1): e1004016, 2014.