Faculty Profile

Simon Chan
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
Plant Biology (College of Biological Sciences)
Life Sciences Addition 1220
Office 754 9652
Lab 754 9789
srchan@ucdavis.edu
http://chan.openwetware.org
[Picture of Simon Chan]

Degrees:
2002 - PhD - UCSF - Cell Biology
1996 - BS - University of Auckland - Biochemistry

Department and Center Affiliations:
Department of Plant Biology

Professional Societies:
American Society of Plant Biologists
American Society for Cell Biology

Grad Group Affiliations and Specialties:
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Cell and Developmental Biology
Genetics
Plant Biology

Publications:
Chan, S.W.L., Bernatavichute, Y.V., Zhang, X.Y. and Jacobsen, S.E.
Two-step recruitment of RNA-directed DNA methylation to tandem repeat sequences.
PLoS Biology, 4, e363 (2006)

Chan, S.W.L., Henderson, I.R., Zhang, X.Y., Chien, J.S.C., Shah, G. and Jacobsen, S.E. RNAi, DRD1 and Histone Methylation Actively Target Developmentally Important Non-CG DNA Methylation in Arabidopsis.
PLoS Genetics 2, Issue 6 e83 (2006)

Chan, S.W.L.*, Henderson, I.R.* and Jacobsen, S.E. Gardening the genome: DNA methylation in Arabidopsis thaliana.
Nature Reviews Genetics 6, 351-360 (2005) [review article]

Chan, S.W.L., Zilberman D., Xie, Z., Johansen, L.K., Carrington, J.C. and Jacobsen, S.E. RNA silencing genes control de novo DNA methylation.
Science 303, 1336 (2004)

Research Interests:
All organisms must pass an intact genome onto their progeny, so we are interested how chromosomes are faithfully inherited when cells divide. The centromere is the position on a chromosome where it attaches to the mitotic spindle, facilitating correct segregation. The protein complex that creates a microtubule binding site at the centromere is termed the kinetochore. We study chromosome properties that specify centromere location and function using the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana.
http://chan.openwetware.org

Laboratory Personnel:
Chan Lab, LS1215 - Joe Ramahi, graduate student; Pak Kwong, technician; Ravi Maruthachalam, postdoc; Daniel Melters, graduate student
http://chan.openwetware.org