2022 Kuffler Lectures

The Jan lab is organized in function and development subgroups led by each co-PI. The function subgroup of the laboratory is led by Dr. Lily Jan and l focuses on the studies of ion channels, their assembly, and their dynamic response to neural activity. Cells express a variety of ion channels that serve important physiological functions, such as neuronal signaling, regulation of heartbeat and vascular tone, and control of ion flow across epithelia. Molecular identification of these ion channels makes it possible to study one channel type at a time. It enables functional studies of heterologously expressed channels that can be subjected to mutagenesis in order to identify structural elements important for specific aspects of the channel function.

The development subgroup led by Dr Yuh Nung Jan has been engaged with questions about the development and function of the nervous system, understanding mechanisms that control diversity of neuronal morphology, dendrite development and neuronal circuitry formation. Current interests include the mechanisms of dendrite development, sensory physiology including mechano-sensing, axon and dendrite regeneration, the function and regulation of potassium and calcium activated chloride channels, and the contribution of dendritic morphogenesis and channel modulation to the assembly and plasticity of functional neuronal circuits.

Dr. Lily Yeh Jan is Howard Hughes Investigator and the Jack and DeLoris Lange Professor of Physiology and Biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Yuh Nung Jan is Howard Hughes Investigator and the Jack and DeLoris Lange Professor of Molecular Physiology at the University of California, San Francisco. Following graduate studies with Max Delbrück at Caltech, postdoctoral positions in the laboratory of Seymour Benzer at Caltech and in the laboratory of Stephen Kuffler at Harvard Medical School, they have been working together as co-PIs of the Jan Lab at UCSF since 1979. The Jans have received numerous awards including the Gruber Foundation Neuroscience Prize, the Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences, the Edward M. Scolnick Prize in Neuroscience, and the Ralph W. Gerard Prize. They are elected members of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Academia Sinica.

The 2022 Kuffler Lectures are hosted by Sue Ackerman.