A new project will introduce "Turkey's Cancer Gene Map" under the leadership of Professor Murat Günel of Yale University. The ONKOGEN project will help identify the genes that cause certain diseases, allowing physicians to offer customized genetic treatments to cancer patients.

Last month, Günel met President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan while visiting Turkey. Günel will coordinate the project and communication between Turkey and Yale University. As part of the project, cancer centers will be established in Istanbul and Ankara after the Health Ministry initiates trainings on cancer treatment in the United States. Harvard University will also collaborate on the project. Around 1,000 U.S.-based Turkish scientists will cover the project. Examining gene structures in 3,000 cancer cases, the project will focus on five main cancer types, including brain, liver, lung, breast and prostate. Aside from cancer genes, genetic diseases caused by kin marriages will also be examined.

Günel recently discovered the mechanism responsible for turning benign tumors into malignant cancers. The team focused on 41 patients with benign gliomas that developed into malignant tumors by comparing the genetic makeup of the malignant tumors with that of the benign ones, Yale University said in a press statement.