The aging of the world population, rapidly changing lifestyle habits, and environmental factors have made the preservation of brain health and the development of new treatment methods more crucial than ever, due to the increase in neurodegenerative, neurodevelopmental, and inflammatory diseases in recent years. In response to this growing threat, Turkey's first multidisciplinary and university-affiliated neuroscience center, the "Neuroscience and Neurotechnology Center of Excellence Application and Research Center" (NÖROM), will play a pivotal role in implementing significant advancements in neuroscience and neurotechnology.

A system, used in only a handful of health and research centers worldwide, is available exclusively at NÖROM in Turkey. During a laboratory tour and press conference at the NÖROM facility, the Director of NÖROM, Prof. Dr. Hayrunnisa Bolay Belen, and the Head of NÖROM's Neuroimaging Unit, Prof. Dr. Metehan Çiçek, discussed prominent projects; meanwhile, Enis Sonemel, the General Manager and Chairman of Siemens Healthineers Turkey, spoke about upcoming collaborations.

Enis Sonemel, the General Manager and Chairman of Siemens Healthineers Turkey, stated in his speech, "We are delighted to add another first in Turkey with NÖROM, which represents a significant milestone in terms of scientific studies in our country. We have recently installed our MRI system, which is a first in our country and used in only a few research centers globally, at NÖROM. We are proud to introduce this system, which will excite the scientific community and contribute to significant advancements in brain health."

Besides neuroscience research projects, NÖROM aims to establish a neuroscience ecosystem, employ qualified scientists, and particularly facilitate the return of Turkish researchers from abroad. The center plans to model the brain's morphological structure and operational principles, simulate neural connections, and eventually develop applications like artificial intelligence and neural interfaces, aspiring to become a reference research, application, and education center in Turkey and the region. Prof. Dr. Hayrunnisa Bolay Belen, Director of NÖROM, expressed, "We can say that NÖROM will have an appeal that attracts researchers from around the world. We are a very new center and a first in Turkey, but even now, we have an infrastructure that the best in different regions of the world would choose. We believe that NÖROM will soon become a center of attraction for researchers worldwide, with its mission of benefiting humanity and sustainability, strong infrastructure, rich research fields, and qualified researcher profile."

"Our door is open to all scientists," said Prof. Dr. Metehan Çiçek, Head of NÖROM's Neuroimaging Unit, during the press conference. "We came together as Middle East Technical University (METU), Ankara University, and Gazi University, combined our projects, and established NÖROM. Our country's these three significant universities have strong teams in various fields. METU has excellent teams in engineering and data analysis. It has a vast accumulation in the Informatics Institute, Electrical-Electronics Engineering, and Biomedical Engineering. Gazi University conducts many studies on experimental animal models and clinical and electrophysiological studies in neurological diseases."