Kathlyn Gan is an accomplished pianist, music teacher and director for the Saturday evening choir at St. Joseph's Catholic Church.
Kathlyn Gan is an accomplished pianist, music teacher and director for the Saturday evening choir at St. Joseph's Catholic Church.
The Port Moody resident, who at the age of 17 earned her ARCT diplomas in piano performance and teaching, was named to the latter posting two years ago - "a blessing," she says, as the role has meaning for her.
The repertoire chosen reflects on biblical readings as well as prayers and sacred rites of the Mass, she says. And organizing and playing these pieces deepens "my understanding of the Catholic faith and encourages me to recognize and develop its central values: humility, compassion, service, truth, forgiveness and hope," Gan says.
But while classical and religious music is her passion, Gan has another gift, too, and one that is quite secular: cellular neuroscience.
The two fields go hand-in-hand, she says.
The traits needed for music education - that is, patience, discipline, observation, analytical thinking and systematic problem-solving - are also required for research, Gan says.
Clear communication of complex ideas is also key, whether it be to a musical audience or to a scientific community. As well, practice makes perfect in both music and biology "in order to evolve and advance," she says.
Gan fell in love with neuroscience many years ago when she volunteered in spiritual care and music therapy programs at retirement homes and long-term care facilities such as Eagle Ridge Manor in Port Moody.
She accompanied church choirs and played "the oldies" for the elderly, many of whom had various forms of neurodegeneration like Alzheimer's.
"I directly witnessed the devastating cognitive and socio-emotional consequences of the disease on patients and their families and this stirred me to investigate and understand its pathogenic mechanisms at basic cellular and molecular levels," Gan says.
In 2007, she graduated with honours in cell biology from SFU and, two years later, obtained her master's degree after working in the lab of Iñigo Novales Flamarique, who researches visual system physiology and adaptations in fish.
In 2011, Gan began her PhD in molecular biology and biochemistry, switching her research focus to cellular neuroscience in Michael Silverman's lab. Gan studies how amyloid-beta - a protein that causes Alzheimer's disease - impairs the transport in nerve cells through aberrant calcium signaling.
Now, Gan is preparing for another major life switch.
Recently, she accepted an invitation to join Thomas Südhof at the School of Medicine at Stanford University in California. It is expected she will start next spring at the 2013 Nobel Prize winner's lab, designing a research project concerning genetic and cellular mechanisms of faulty communication between nerve cells in schizophrenia and/or Alzheimer's.
After her post-doctoral research, Gan plans to return to Canada to work as an independent investigator in academic neuroscience research.
As for her music studies and performance while in the United States? "As much as time permits," she says.
