Research Interests and Accomplishments

Agnes Chan is a Staff Scientist in the Plant Genomics Department at the J. Craig Venter Institute. She currently manages and participates in projects for the sequencing, annotation and analysis of genomes and ESTs of various plant species. Since joining TIGR in 2001, she has contributed to the Arabidopsis genome annotation effort, the Consortium for Maize Genomics project to sequence the maize gene space using gene-enrichment techniques methylation filtration and high Cot selection, and the sequencing and analysis of the oil seed castor bean genome which produces ricin, one of the deadliest natural toxin. She is also involved in an outreach program to promote educational exchanges between the research community and Native Americans, by providing molecular biology workshops to Native American students and faculty at tribal colleges.

She holds a Ph.D. degree in Developmental Biology from the University of Cambridge, UK, where she worked on nuclear transplantation in Xenopus with John Gurdon. She continued on her post-doctoral research in Xenopus early development at the M.D. Anderson Cancer center, Houston, TX, studying oocyte RNA localization determining embryonic patterning and germ cell specification. She also received a M.Sc. degree in Computer Science from the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD. She has a M.Phil. degree in Biotechnology, and a B.Sc. degree in Biochemistry and Computer Science from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, HK.

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