Zehra Sayers

Zehra Sayers (born 25 September 1953) is a Turkish structural biologist. She has previously served as President of the Sabancı University and chaired the advisory committee for Synchrotron-Light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East (SESAME). She was awarded the AAAS Award for Science Diplomacy in 2019. She holds Turkish and British citizenship.

Sayers was born in Turkey. She studied physics at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul. For her postgraduate studies Sayers moved to the United Kingdom. In 1978 she earned a doctorate for research done at King's College London GKT School of Medical Education, the degree was awarded by the University of London. She worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the Open University and the Wallenberg Laboratory, Uppsala University. In 1986 she was the first woman staff scientist to be appointed to the European Molecular Biology Laboratory. Sayers was a pioneer in the use of synchrotron radiation to study cytoskeletal proteins and chromatin. Whilst working in Germany she was appointed to Associate Professor. She received her qualification for professorship with a thesis from the German University of Hamburg in 1996.

In 1998 Sayers returned to Turkey, and was a founding faculty member of Sabancı University. She was elected Director of the Foundation Development Program in 2010 and President in 2018. Her research has considered recombinant protein production, and has considered the structure of chromatin fibres and filamentous proteins. She looks to identify the relationship between structure and function in macromolecules. At Sabancı University, Sayers has revolutionised undergraduate teaching, developing an interdisciplinary, liberal arts, curriculum for science teaching in Turkey.

Sayers became involved with the Synchrotron-Light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East (SESAME) project since 2000. The light source was inaugurated in 2017 by Abdullah II of Jordan. She believes that synchrotron light sources are an effective way to integrate scientists from different disciplines and nationalities. During her time as Chair of the Advisory Committee she oversaw the training of hundreds of young scientists to use the synchrotron radiation. She held her position as Chair of the Advisory Committee of SESAME from 2002 to 2018. Sayers has worked as an advisor for the Turkish Accelerator Center Project. She spoke about the international collaborations that are part of SESAME at TEDxCERN in 2013.

She was awarded the EuroScience Rammal Award in 2017, which recognised her contributions to building the scientific programme of SESAME. In 2019 Sayers became the first Turkish national to win the AAAS Award for Science Diplomacy. Later that year she was named as one of the BBC 100 Women in 2019.

Selected publications

Her publications include;

• Sayers, Zehra (2006). "Concentration and localization of zinc during seed development and germination in wheat". Physiologia Plantarum. 128: 144–152. doi:10.1111/j.1399-3054.2006.00737.x.
• Sayers, Zehra (1982). "Synchrotron X-ray diffraction study of corneal stroma". Journal of Molecular Biology. 160 (4): 593–607. doi:10.1016/0022-2836(82)90317-5. PMID 7175938.
• Sayers, Zehra (1981). "Interpretation of the meridional X-ray diffraction pattern from collagen fibrils in corneal stroma". Journal of Molecular Biology. 149 (3): 477–488. doi:10.1016/0022-2836(81)90482-4. PMID 7310887.

• 2017 EuroScience Rammal Award
• 2019 The Science Academy Society of Turkey Honorary Member
• 2019 AAAS Award for Science Diplomacy
• 2019 100 Women (BBC)