Rate My Professor Chii Jou Chan

Chii Jou Chan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and a Principal Investigator at the Mechanobiology Institute. He joined NUS in January 2021. His research focuses on the mechanobiology and tissue hydraulics of early mammalian development, combining quantitative imaging, biophysical tools, and developmental genetics to study mechanochemical feedback in tissue morphogenesis and patterning during oogenesis and embryogenesis.

Chan earned his B.A. and M.Sc. in Experimental and Theoretical Physics from the University of Cambridge, both with First Class Honors. He completed an M.Phil. at Cambridge on the non-equilibrium statistical mechanics of nematic liquids under Prof. Eugene Terentjev and a Ph.D. on non-canonical aspects of cell and nuclear mechanics under Prof. Jochen Guck. Prior to NUS, he held postdoctoral positions at EMBL Heidelberg with Dr. Takashi Hiiragi and Dr. Robert Prevedel, and a bridging postdoc at the Biotechnology Center in Dresden. Key publications include a 2019 Nature paper on hydraulic control of mammalian embryo size and cell fate, and contributions to Developmental Cell on lumen expansion and cell fate specification. He has received awards including the Singaporean Teaching and Academic Research Talent (START) award and an EMBL Interdisciplinary Postdoctoral Fellowship. His professional email is dbschii@nus.edu.sg.