Berna Sozen, PhD

Dr. Berna Sozen is a developmental biologist whose research focuses on early mammalian embryogenesis and stem cell-based models of human development.

Berna earned her undergraduate degree in Biology at Akdeniz University, Turkey in 2009. She obtained a MSc in Reproductive Biology in 2013 and a PhD in Developmental Biology in 2018 at Akdeniz University School of Medicine. During her MSc she worked with Prof. Tom P. Fleming at the University of Southampton, UK (2012), and during her PhD she worked with Prof. Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz at the University of Cambridge, UK (2015-2018). She then undertook her post-doctoral research first at Cambridge (2018-2019), and later at California Institute of Technology (Caltech) (2019-2020) with Prof. Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz. In 2020, Berna joined the Yale faculty as an Assistant Professor to establish her independent research group at Yale Department of Genetics.

She is recognized for pioneering work that has advanced our understanding of lineage specification, tissue morphogenesis, and the self-organization of embryonic structures. Her lab's studies integrate cutting-edge stem cell technologies, multi-omics profiling, and imaging to uncover the mechanisms guiding early human development. Dr. Sozen's contributions have not only provided critical insights into human embryo biology but have also helped establish stem cell-derived embryo models as a powerful system for developmental and biomedical research.