Dr. Chan is working in the research group led by Dr. Laura Cox. Dr. Chan processes next-generation sequencing (DNA-Seq and RNA-Seq) data from studies in humans, baboons, mice and laboratory opossums. She uses Partek Flow for sequence alignments, variant analysis, gene and transcript quantification, and differential expression analysis. Dr. Chan also performs pathway and network analysis using the Ingenuity Pathway Analysis software for RNA sequencing projects.

Her current project is on maternal obesity. This project uses a mouse model to investigate the effect of obesity in pregnancy on the development of metabolic syndrome in the offspring. She analyzes RNA-Seq data from various fetal and adult tissues obtained from offspring whose mothers either became obese on a high-fat and high-sugar diet, or maintained normal weight on a low-fat diet.

The findings from studying differences in gene expression between offspring from normal and obese mothers will advance our understanding of the biological pathways and genes relevant to the development of the metabolic syndrome.