Sunney I. Chan

Biography

B.S., University of California, 1957; Ph.D., 1961. Assistant Professor of Chemical Physics, Caltech, 1963-64; Associate Professor, 1964-68; Professor, 1968-76; Professor of Chemical Physics and Biophysical Chemistry, 1976-92; Hoag Professor, 1992-2001; Hoag Professor Emeritus, 2002-. Acting Executive Officer for Chemistry, 1977-78; Executive Officer, 1978-80; 1989-94; Master of Student Houses, 1980-83. Professor Chan and his research group work on the structure and function of membrane proteins, particularly those that participate in the transport of electrons, ions, sugars, and other substrates that are essential to the life of a cell across the cell membrane. They study these enzymes in the native environment of the membrane in which they reside, or isolate and purify them for in-depth structural and functional characterization by a variety of physical and chemical methods, including NMR, EPR, ENDOR, resonance RAMAN, X-ray spectroscopy, time-resolved absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy, chemical modification, and site-directed mutagenesis. At the moment they are investigating a number of interesting and important systems: cytochrome bo3 from E. coli; cytochrome bc1 oxidase from bovine heart; succinate-ubiquinone oxidoreductase from Paracoccus denitrificans; and the particulate methane monooxygenase from methanotrophic bacteria.

Research Interest

Chemical physics, Molecular structure, Fundamental chemistry, Molecular dynamics