Physiology

Chun Hin Chow Daniel

Student Name: Chun Hin Chow (Daniel)
Supervisors: Dr. Shuzo Sugita, Professor, Department of Physiology
Dr. William D. Hutchison, Professor, Department of Physiology and Surgery (Division of Neurosurgery)
Dr. Jinrong Min, Professor, Department of Physiology

Daniel graduated with an Honours Bachelor of Science with high distinction in Spring 2021. He completed a specialist in physiology. In his four-year of undergraduate, he has earned a variety of in-course scholarships from the Victoria College and the University of Toronto Scholar awards. With his dedication to research and community service, he was awarded the Undergraduate Physiology Student Association (UPSA) Community Award. Daniel was also the winner of the Colin Bayliss Award for the top graduating Specialist student in Physiology. Given his outstanding academic achievement, he obtained A Regents Graduating Scholarship upon his graduation.

Daniel has enjoyed the various research experience provided by the Department of Physiology. In the summer after he finished his second year, he joined the lab of Dr. Jinrong Min via the Research Opportunity Program. Here, he worked in the field of molecular physiology in solving the structure of replication protein A subunit 1 (RPA1) with histone 3 – histone 4 tetramer complex. He aimed to further understand the process of DNA replication, DNA repair, and transcription through elucidating the structure of the protein complex. Daniel has developed a strong interest and passion in research and has volunteered in the lab for an additional year working on the project.

With his experience in the lab courses provided by the department, Daniel was interested in neurophysiology. Therefore, in his fourth year, he worked in Dr. William D. Hutchison’s Lab in the Western Hospital to study neuronal activity in the motor thalamus related to cognitive tasks in patients with Parkinson’s Disease. This project looks into the role of the thalamus in attentional control and may provide insight into the development of motor learning or rehabilitation program for patients suffering from motor dysfunctions. Though during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, Daniel worked remotely on data analysis and had the precious opportunity to shadow the surgical procedures and experiments in patients. Daniel is expected to be a co-author in the publication.

After he graduated, Daniel applied for the GLSE summer research project studentship working in the Sugita Lab. He worked on both molecular physiology and neuroscience, combining his two interests in his Undergraduate years. The scholarship has been a transition for him to enter graduate school, and he is now a Ph.D. candidate in the Sugita Lab. His main project started in the summer scholarship is identifying the important SNARE proteins in proteolipid protein (PLP1) trafficking in oligodendrocytes in the optic nerves