Background
Ulubelen was born August 20, 1931 in Istanbul, Turkey. Her father was an army officer, and her mother was a housewife.
Ulubelen was born August 20, 1931 in Istanbul, Turkey. Her father was an army officer, and her mother was a housewife.
University of Minnesota.
She has contributed to the isolation and testing of natural products from Turkish plants relevant to spontaneous abortion, cancer, Human Immunodeficiency Virus, and diabetes. In high school, she saw a movie about Madame Curie and soon wanted to be a chemistry She sought a position in chemical industry, but became analytical chemist at the Faculty of Pharmacy of Istanbul University, partly through her having passed the language examination.
Ulubelen received her degree in analytical chemistry at Istanbul University in 1956, followed by two years of postdoctoral research at the University of Minnesota and then by four years of cancer research at the University of Arizona.
In 1976, she became a full professor at Istanbul University, while spending several months at each of: Japan (support by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science), Germany (support by German Academic Exchange Service), and the University of Texas at Austin (support by North Atlantic Treaty Organization). Ulubelen has published more than 300 papers, and has authored two books and 12 chapters in international books
Her work has received support from Fulbright, National Institutes of Health, German Academic Exchange Service, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, and North Atlantic Treaty Organization. She has mentored over 20 graduate students, of whom many have proceeded to prominent positions in academia, as well as pharmaceutical and chemical companies. Ulubelen"s research focuses on isolation, structure determination, and pharmacological investigation of Turkish plants and compounds isolated from them, and especially on isolates from plants abundant in Turkey and mentioned in Turkish folklore and medicine.
Her work with triterpenes and flavonoids was followed by work on diterpenoids, to find plant components that produce various medical effects including spontaneous abortion and wound healing.
During tests on mice, Ulubelen found an abortive factor developing cystic degeneration in the ovaries, but was unsure whether the effect was caused by the abortive agent or by some other compound. Ten compounds from the source plant were studied, including screening by a Faculty of Medicine group for toxic effects to the ovaries, livers, kidneys, and brain. At that time, Ulubelen said "..we can"t recommend that women should be using these plants as an abortive agent.
We have so informed the pharmacist who sent them to us, and I"m sure she"s passing this information on to the villagers.".