About Yuan Lab

Yuan Laboratory is a translational research lab currently focused on cardiopulmonary and vascular pathobiology, ion channel electrophysiology, and the pathogenic mechanisms of pulmonary vascular disease. The Laboratory uses the patch clamp technique, digital imaging fluorescence microscopy, conventional cellular and molecular biology techniques, and genetic and genomic analyses to investigate the roles of ion channels (e.g., K+ and Ca2+ channels), membrane receptors (e.g., GPCR/CaSR, Notch receptors), and intracellular Ca2+ signaling in regulating vasomotor tone, and pulmonary vascular smooth muscle cell contraction/relaxation, migration, proliferation/apoptosis in order to understand the molecular mechanisms involved in idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH). The aim of our investigation is to define pathogenic mechanisms and identify new therapeutic targets and treatment strategies for pulmonary hypertension and right heart failure. A more thorough summary of the current projects in the lab is provided in the Research Focus.

Yuan's teaching efforts are in the UCSD School of Medicine for 1^st and 2^nd year medical students as Problem-based Learning (PBL) facilitator and the UCSD main campus for freshmen and senior undergraduate students as elective lecturer. He continues to teach graduate students in the Biomedical Sciences and Bioengineering graduate program and supports career development and professional training through various professional associations like The American Physiological Society, American Thoracic Society and American Heart Association. He mentors research and clinical trainees at pre- and post-doctoral levels and is a Research Mentor in an NIH Institutional training grant for "Training the Next Generation of Respiratory Science". The Laboratory members include junior faculty members, visiting scholars, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and undergraduate students.