Department of Chemistry
Yale University
225 Prospect Street
PO Box 208107
New Haven CT 06520 8107
203 432 3915

Elsa Yan

Associate Professor of Chemistry
Member of Yale faculty since 2007

E-mail: elsa.yan@yale.edu
Web site: http://ursula.chem.yale.edu/~yanlab/Index.html

Research We are interested in understanding biological phenomena related to biomembranes at the molecular level.  We focus on protein folding at membrane surfaces and signal transduction across biomembranes through G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). Using techniques in molecular biology and chemical biology, we express and purify recombinant soluble and membrane proteins. We then apply second-order laser spectroscopy and biophysical methods to obtain thermodynamic and kinetic information to investigate structure and functions of the proteins.

Education
B.S. Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1995
Ph.D. Columbia University, 2000
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, Berkeley, 2000-2004
Visiting Fellow, HHMI, Rockefeller University, New York, 2000-2004
Research Assistant Professor, Rockefeller University, New York, 2004-2007

Honors
Sir Edward Youde Memorial Scholarship, Hong Kong, 1994
First Class Honors for B.Sci., Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1995
Distinction for Ph.D., Columbia University, New York, 2000
Pegram Award for graduate research, Columbia University, New York, 2000
Petroleum Research Fund Award, American Chemical Society, 2009-2011
Starter Grant Award, Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh, 2009-2010
NSF CAREER Award, National Science Foundation, 2010-2015

Recent Publications

D. Xiao, L. Fu, J. Liu, V.S. Batista, & E.C.Y Yan. Amphiphilic Adsorption of Human Islet Amyloid Polypeptide Aggregates to Lipid/Aqueous Interfaces. J. Mol. Biol. 2012, in press.

V.L. Mooney, I. Szundi, J.W. Lewis, E.C.Y Yan, & D.S. Kliger. Schiff Base Protonation Changes in Siberian Hamster Ultraviolet Cone Pigment Photointermediates. Biochemistry 2012, 51, 2603.

Y.M. You, A. Bloomfield, J. Liu, L. Fu, S. Herzon, & E.C.Y Yan. Kinetics of Surfactant Molecules Transferring Between Emulsion Particles Probed by Second Harmonic Generation Spectroscopy. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 4264.

J. Liu, M. Liu, L. Fu, & E.C.Y Yan. Chemical Kinetic Analysis of Thermal Decay of Rhodopsin Reveals Unusual Energetics of Thermal Isomerization and Hydrolysis of Schiff Base. J. Biol. Chem. 2011, 286, 38408.

J. Liu, M. Liu, V. Mooney, A. Bhagat, J. Nguyen, & E.C.Y Yan. Thermal Properties of Rhodopsin: Insight into Molecular Mechanism of Dim-Light Vision. J. Biol. Chem. 2011, 286, 27622.

L. Fu, Z. Wang, E.C.Y. Yan. Chiral Vibrational Structures of Proteins at Interfaces Probe by Sum Frequency Generation Spectroscopy. Invited Submission, Special Issue: Applications of Circular Dichroism, Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2011, 12, 9404.

L. Fu, J. Liu, E.C.Y. Yan. Chiral Sum Frequency Generation Spectroscopy for Characterizing Protein Secondary Structures at Interfaces. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133, 8094.

L. Fu, G. Ma, E.C.Y. Yan. In Situ Misfolding of Human Islet Amyloid Polypeptide at Interfaces Probed by Sum Frequency Generation. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2010, 132, 5405.

J. Liu, M.Y. Liu, J.B. Nguyen, A. Bhagat, V. Mooney, & E.C.Y. Yan. Thermal Decay of Rhodopsin: Role of Hydrogen Bonds in Thermal Isomerization of 11-cis Retinal in the Binding Site and Hydrolysis of Protonated Schiff Base. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2009, 131, 8750.

G. Ma, J. Liu, L. Fu, & E.C.Y. Yan. Probing Water and Biomolecules at the Air/Water Interface with a Broad-Bandwidth Vibrational Sum Frequency Generation Spectrometer from 3800 to 900 cm-1” . Appl. Spectro. 2009, 63, 528.