Lily Jan facts for kids

Lily Yeh Jan (Chinese: 葉公杼; pinyin: Yè Gōngzhù; Wade–Giles: Yeh Kung-chu) is a famous Taiwanese-American scientist. She was born on January 20, 1947. She is a professor at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). There, she works with her husband, Yuh Nung Jan, in their shared science lab. They are both leaders in the field of neuroscience.

Early Life and Education

Lily Yeh Jan was born in Fuzhou, China. Her birth name was Yeh Kung-chu. Her parents were both accountants. In 1949, her family moved to Taiwan. She went to a top public school called Taipei First Girls' High School.

Discovering Science

As a high school student, Lily was very interested in physics. She was inspired by scientists like Tsung Dao Lee, Chen Ning Yang, and Chien Shiung Wu. These scientists had won important awards for their work in physics.

From Physics to Biology

Lily studied physics at National Taiwan University. She earned her bachelor's degree in 1968. She then went to Caltech to study theoretical physics. After two years, in 1970, her advisor, Max Delbrück, inspired her to switch to biology. Max Delbrück had won a Nobel Prize in 1969.

Switching fields was a big challenge. Lily had to take a long, difficult exam in biology. Her studies focused on how light-sensing proteins work in the eye. After her studies, she worked as a researcher at Caltech and Harvard Medical School. In 1979, she and her husband joined the faculty at University of California, San Francisco. She has been a researcher for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute since 1984.

Amazing Research Discoveries

After getting her Ph.D. in 1974, Lily Jan and her husband, Yuh Nung Jan, started working together. This was the beginning of their long scientific partnership. They began their research by studying fruit flies. They wanted to understand how nerves and muscles communicate.

The Shaker Gene

Their early work led them to study a special gene called "Shaker." They noticed that fruit flies with a change in this gene acted differently. This discovery started their research into "ion channels." Ion channels are like tiny gates in cells that control how signals move through nerves.

Building a Lab at UCSF

In 1979, Lily and her husband became professors at UCSF. They set up their shared lab with limited funds. Despite this, they were excited to work at UCSF because of the people and the atmosphere.

Understanding Nerve Development

In the 1980s, their team worked on cloning the Shaker gene. This was a difficult task, but they succeeded in 1987. This allowed them to study how single potassium ion channels work. Their research also made big steps in understanding how nerves and brains grow and develop. This field is called "neural development."

Lab Focus Areas

Since 1994, the Jan lab has two main groups. Lily leads the group that studies ion channels. They look at how these channels are built and how they react to nerve activity. Her husband, Yuh Nung, leads the group that studies how nerve cells grow their branches.

Awards and Honors

Lily Yeh Jan has received many important awards for her scientific work. These awards recognize her major contributions to neuroscience.

• Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science (2017)
• Gruber Prize in Neuroscience (2012)
• Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences (2011)
• Edward M. Scolnick Prize in Neuroscience (2010)
• Ralph Gerard Prize (2009)
• Elected member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2007)
• National Institute of Health MERIT Award (2006)
• Distinguished Alumni Award, California Institute of Technology (2006)
• Elected member, Academia Sinica, Taiwan (1998)
• Elected member, National Academy of Sciences (1995)

Personal Life

Lily Jan met her husband, Yuh-Nung Jan, in 1967 during a hiking trip in Taiwan. They got married in 1971 in a simple ceremony in Los Angeles. They celebrated by camping and hiking in Yosemite.

Family Life

Lily and Yuh Nung have two children. Their daughter, Emily, was born in 1977. Their son, Max, was born in 1984 and was named after Max Delbrück, Lily's former advisor.

The Jans made sure that one parent was always home with their children. They rarely attended scientific meetings together until their children went to college. Outside of their lab work, they both love hiking, exploring, and being in nature. In 2011, they achieved a lifelong dream of seeing Mount Everest together from its base camp in Tibet.