Dr. Shyue-An Chan is a Senior Research Associate in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics in the
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio. He received his Bachelor’s
degree in Biology from National Cheng Kung University in Tainan, Taiwan, and Ph.D. in Anatomical
Sciences and Neurobiology from University of Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky.
Dr. Chan’s Ph.D. training involved in studying the cerebral effect of transient ischemia and demonstrated
the potential neuroprotective effect of fosphenytoin (Cerebyx) for the ischemic neuronal damage of
hippocampus. He join Dr. Corey Smith’s lab in late 1999 as a post-doctoral fellow in Medical College of
Georgia, Augusta, Georgia. The Smith lab moved to Case Western Reserve University at the beginning of
2001, and Dr. Chan started to work as a Research Associate in the CWRU.
The main focus of the Smith lab is in the chromaffin cell physiology, including exocytosis/endocytosis
regulation, control mechanism of catecholamine release, and the stress response of the sympathetic
system. Dr. Chan utilizes patch clamp technique studied chromaffin cells in mouse adrenal slices to
elucidate the molecular steps of catecholamine secretion. Dr. Chan’s studies also demonstrated
different calcium channel’s contribution during different chromaffin cell activity levels. For the stress
response, series of work was conducted involving PACAP was published and support that PACAP elicit
secretion catecholamine preferably under stress condition. Dr. Chan latest works are in detecting
catecholamine and neuropeptide secretion in vivo in collaboration with the UCLA Cardiac Arrhythmia
Center.
