University of California-San Francisco · BiologyCellular Mechanics and Growth Unit
Fred Chang · San Francisco, California
Research Focus
Fred Chang's lab at UCSF focuses on understanding how the crowded environment inside cells affects their growth and division. They study how physical forces from molecules in the cytoplasm influence cellular processes like microtubule dynamics and chromosome movement. This research is important for understanding basic cell biology and has implications for diseases such as cancer and aging.
cell divisioncytoplasmic crowdingcell growthmicrotubule dynamicsDNA repairfission yeastbiophysical propertiescellular mechanicsmitosis
Research Aims
5AIM 01Investigate how macromolecular crowding impacts cell growth and division.
AIM 02Elucidate the role of cytoplasmic density in cellular physiology.
AIM 03Examine the relationship between osmotic pressure and microtubule dynamics.
AIM 04Establish foundational principles of cellular mechanics during mitosis.
AIM 05Assess the impact of cellular conditions on chromosome mobility and DNA repair.
Skills the Lab Values
microscopylive cell imagingmicrorheologyquantitative cell biologycell culturegene editing in yeastdata analysis with Pythonphase contrast imagingbiophysical assays
Output against the department
Publications159top 42% of dept.434th of 1,033
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations11ktop 35% of dept.364th of 1,033
this lab
most citedleast cited
Career totals from OpenAlex, compared against labs that share a department. A department spans everything from one paper to tens of thousands, so bar heights are on a log scale — otherwise the largest lab would flatten every other bar to a line.