Dr. Jennifer Chan

• Brain Tumorigenesis
• Molecular Mechanisms

Dr. Chan is a clinician-scientist and an Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine at the University of Calgary. As a neuropathologist with a focus in oncology, my clinical expertise is in the diagnostic evaluation of pediatric and adult brain tumours. I have expertise in molecular oncology, and also run an active research program in brain tumour biology.

My research program applies concepts from developmental neurobiology to further understand mechanisms of disease in brain tumorigenesis. My lab is examining the intersection of growth factor signaling and intrinsic determinants such as transcription factor function in cell fate determination and proliferation in neural development and cancer. Our work uses somatic transgenesis to introduce genes of interest into neural stem and progenitor cells to model disease, and is supplemented by in vitro studies using brain tumour initiating cells (BTICs). Projects include defining the role of CIC in oligodendrogliomas, and proneural genes in oligodendrogliomas and astrocytomas.  Another major goal is to use these techniques and reagents to develop more rapid and flexible systems for modeling brain tumors in vivo.

Complementing these efforts, my lab is involved in several large collaborative projects that are using next generation sequencing technology to discover new driver mutations in a variety of pediatric and adult brain tumors including medulloblastoma and glioblastoma. These types of human tissue-based studies require high quality, well characterized samples. To this end, I also direct the Clark Smith Neurologic and Pediatric Tumour and Tissue Bank, whose mission is to enable and elevate scientific research as a resource for human tissues, cells, and biomolecules.

Questions regarding access to samples from the tumour bank may be directed to me at the email above, or to btbank@ucalgary.ca.