Raymond C. Chan, Ph.D.

Raymond C. Chan, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Human Genetics
Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine-MMG

5814 Med Sci II
1241 E. Catherine St. SPC 5618
Ann Arbor
MI
48109
Phone: 
734-615-5393
Fax: 
734-763-3784
Email: 
rchan@umich.edu
Lab Website: 
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~rchan/
Research Interests: 

Our laboratory studies genomic stability in germ cells. Proper organization of DNA is critical for the replication, repair and accurate segregation of genomic DNA. Specifically, we are focusing on the Structural Maintenance of Chromosomes (SMC) proteins, since SMC proteins are fundamental chromatin components that regulate higher-order chromosome organization. The combination of C. elegans genetics and cell biology provides powerful tools to dissect the in vivo functions of SMC protein complexes at both the molecular and cellular levels and their overall influence on the complex multicellular organism. Research in my laboratory has recently discovered a novel developmentally regulated function for a specific SMC protein complex in the germ cell lineage, where it serves an important role for maintaining genomic stability of germ cells and possibly in gametes. Ongoing efforts of my lab are focused on addressing the functional roles for SMC complexes in genomic stability, cell division and gametogenesis.

Honors and Awards: 
1993-1996: Cellular and Molecular Biology Training Grant, UCLA
1996: Molecular Biology Institute Graduate Fellowship, UCLA
1999-2002: Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Postdoctoral Fellowship
2006: Biological Sciences Scholars Program Award, University of Michigan
Education: 
1991: B.A., Pomona College, Claremont, CA (Molecular Biology)
1997: Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles, CA (Molecular Biology, Dr. Douglas L. Black)
1998-2006: Postdoctoral Training, University of California, Berkeley, CA (Dr. Barbara J. Meyer)
Selected Publications: 

Rieseberg, L.H. , Choi, H., Chan, R., and Spore, C. 1993. Genomic map of a diploid hybrid species. Heredity 70: 285-293.

Min, H., Chan, R.C., and Black, D.L. 1995. The generally expressed hnRNP F is involved in a neural-specific pre-mRNA splicing event. Genes Dev. 9: 2659-2671.

Chan, R.C. and Black, D.L. 1995. Conserved intron elements repress splicing of a neuron-specific c-src exon in vitro. Mol. Cell. Biol. 15: 6377-6385.

Chan, R.C. and Black, D.L. 1997. The polypyrimidine tract binding protein binds upstream of neural cell-specific c-src exon N1 to repress the splicing of the intron downstream. Mol. Cell. Biol. 17: 4667-76.

Chu, D.S., Dawes, H.E., Lieb, J.D., Chan, R.C., Kuo, A.F., and Meyer, B.J. 2002. A molecular link between gene-specific and chromosome-wide transcriptional repression. Genes Dev. 16: 796-805.

Chan, R. C., Chan, A., Jeon, M., Wu, T. F., Pasqualone, D., Rougvie, A. E., and Meyer, B. J. (2003) Chromosome cohesion is regulated by a clock gene paralogue TIM-1. Nature 423:1002-1009.

Chan, R. C., Severson, A. F., and Meyer, B. J. (2004) Condensin restructures chromosomes in preparation for meiotic divisions. J. Cell Biol. 167:613-625.

Bickel, J. S., Chen, L., Hayward, J., Yeap, S. L., Alkers, A. E., and Chan, R. C. (2010) Structural Maintenance of Chromosomes (SMC) proteins promote homolog-independent recombination repair in meiosis crucial for germ cell genomic stability. PLoS Genet. 6:e1001028

Jia, L., Bickel, J. S., Wu, J., Morgan, M. A., Li, H., Yang, J., Yu, X., Chan, R. C., and Sun, Y. (2011) RBX1 (RING-Box Protein 1) E3 ubiquitin ligase is required for genomic integrity by modulating DNA replication licensing proteins. J. Biol. Chem. 286:.3379-86.

Verbrugghe, K. and Chan, R. C. (2011) Imaging C. elegans embryos using an epifluorescent microscope and open source software. J. Vis. Exp. 49:pii: 2625

Bickel, J.S., Kirkconnell, K.S., Faulkner, I.D., Verbrugghe, K.J., Bian, Y., and Chan, R.C. Redundancy in DNA replication stalling response contributes to cell-type-specific defects in C. elegans smc-5 and smc-6 mutants. Manuscript in preparation.