Dr. Suleyman Ucuncuoglu graduated from Bogazici University in 2005 with a bachelor’s degree. He was awarded with the Fulbright opportunity grant for his PhD. He joined Emory University Biophysics graduate program in 2009. During his PhD, he studied the single molecule characterization of RNA Polymerase I (Pol I) enzyme which is responsible for ribosomal RNA transcription in eukaryotic cells. For his PhD research, he received the Biophysical Society Education Committee award in 2014. 

In 2015, he accepted a postdoctoral research scientist position at the Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University in NY. His research at Columbia University focused on understanding the interactions of CRISPR/Cas9 with target DNA and he discovered the effect of DNA tension on CRISPR/Cas9 activity. While investigating the molecular mechanism of CRISPR/Cas9 systems, he invented a novel technique to bypass the PAM requirement of CRISPR endonucleases which turned into an international patent application by Columbia University in 2017. His proposal on developing gene therapies for sickle cell patients was awarded by Columbia University Translational Therapeutic Accelerator program for in 2019. 

Dr. Ucuncuoglu joined the Iowa Institute of Human Genetics in November 2025.