Tulay received her BS degree in Chemistry from Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey. After graduation, she moved to Iowa City where she received her PhD degree in Medicinal Chemistry from University of Iowa. In 2002, she moved to San Diego and worked as Research Associate at The Scripps Research Institute. Currently, she works as a Senior Scientist at Abraxis BioScience, biotechnology based company in Los Angeles. Tulay has served as a board member at University of Iowa Turkish Student Association (1999-2001) and also ATASC-San Diego (2003-2005).