Shannon received her B.S. in Chemistry from National Taiwan University. She then pursued her Ph.D. in Chemistry at UC Berkeley with Prof. Ignacio Tinoco, Jr. and studied ribosome translation dynamics (Cell 2015) using mass spectrometry and force spectroscopy with optical tweezers. During postdoc with Prof. Carlos Bustamante, also at UC Berkeley, Dr. Yan expanded the scope of her research in single-molecule biophysics, from co-translational RNA folding (Mol. Cell 2019) to membrane remodeling during vesicle budding (Science 2018). Through collaboration with the Weiner lab at UCSF, Dr. Yan advanced to investigate live cell force dynamics (Cell 2023), where she adapted optical tweezers to monitor membrane tension during optogenetic-induced actin-driven cell protrusion/contraction in neutrophils. The outcome of this work settles a long-standing dispute in the field by revealing that membrane tension rapidly propagates across the cell and could act as an integrator of physiological signals, critical for regulating cell shape/movement. This work serves as the basis for Dr. Yan to further study membrane tension dynamics during cell division. In parallel, she is developing new molecular probes and instrumentations for the visualization of forces and tension within the cellular machinery, with the aim to apply these sensors to study spindle/microtubule dynamics during mitosis (CASI Award, BWF). Dr. Yan was also granted an NIH K99/R00 award to study the mechanistic aspects of mitotic checkpoint proteins MAD2, whose dynamic fold switching safeguards the mechanical progression of chromosome segregation, thus expanding our understanding on factors involved in cell division. Her overarching goal is to directly measure and broadly explore the mechanical aspects inside and around cells, thereby revealing force fields characteristic of living processes. Ultimately, Dr. Yan aims to unravel the long-missing narratives in the mechanical dimension and integrate them with the finely resolved 3D cell atlases, animating living cells at work—as well as in disease—as a 5D Physiological ‘movie’ in (x,y,z,force,t).

Our overarching goal is to directly measure and broadly explore the mechanical aspects inside and around cells, e.g., forces and tensions that contribute to the biological interconnectivity and physiological operation of life but remain largely undetected by existing experimental approaches. This effort is motivated by our current knowledge in cell biology, which is exceptionally rich in structural/biochemical/genomic aspects but starkly limited in the mechanical descriptions given that cells function as physical objects to exhibit life. Our research hence sits at the interface between molecular and cellular biology, biophysics, biochemistry, and cutting-edge instrumentation/ tool developments. We are a group of gap seekers and bridge builders dedicated to unraveling the mechanical dimension in biology. By innovating, integrating, and adapting methodology in high-resolution optical tweezers, fluorescence microscopy and various imaging techniques, we aim to probe live cell force dynamics in situ and study biomechanics across scales.