Kıvanç received his undergraduate degree in Molecular Genetics from Bilkent University in Turkey in 2004 and his PhD from the Rockefeller University in 2009, where he studied molecular genetics of obesity in the laboratory of Jeffrey Friedman. In 2010, he joined the laboratory of David Sabatini at the Whitehead Institute at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). There, he combined forward genetics and metabolomics approaches to understand how different cancer types rewire their metabolism to adapt to nutrient-deprived environments. He also used similar approaches to study how mitochondrial dysfunction influences cellular metabolism. In 2015, Kıvanç joined the Rockefeller faculty as an assistant professor. His lab studies how metabolic pathways regulate biological processes and contribute to diseases including cancer, mitochondrial disorders, and inborn errors of metabolism.