Iowa State University Alumni Association| online edition | fall 2006

FALL 2006
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>> Good Chemistry

• On science, creativity, and cooking
• In science, one is not the loneliest number
• Bacteria Buster
• GAMESS people play
• Boldly going where no man has gone before
• Have mercy!
• The $12 billion man
• I think we can help
• Chemistry alumni and faculty of note
• Henry Gilman: Iowa State's master chemist
• Chemistry experiments with a new way to teach
• The campaign for chemistry

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MEI HONG, PROFESSOR
BACTERIA BUSTER

Mei Hong is a bacteria’s worst nightmare – a terminator of Hollywood proportions. Her research into antimicrobial peptides may one day lead to vaccines to cure or more effectively fight AIDS, mad cow disease, and even ulcers.

Like her movie counterpart, Hong transports a “terminator” – we’ll call the futuristic superhero “Peptide” – into the human body in search of infections caused by bacteria, fungi, or viruses. Peptide then gets to work to eviscerate the viral cells.

Hong investigates how Peptide attaches itself to a bacteria cell’s membrane. Like its movie counterpart, Peptide appears on the surface to be a bland, non-threatening force. Once Peptide slips inside, however, he creates holes or pores that cause the cell to die.

Unlike current antibiotic drugs, to which bacteria can and do build-up resistance, the membrane-killing peptides have no natural resistance or immunity. He and his kind go on unimpeded to target and eradicate infections.

“Medically, this is very important,” Hong said. “The reactions happen very fast – within 10 to 15 minutes.”
To perfect Peptide for future medical uses, its three-dimensional structure must be defined. To do this, Hong is researching the use of solid-state NMR Spectroscopy, a nuclear magnetic resonance device that studies the vibration of protons and carbons to radiation in a magnetic field, similar to an MRI used
in hospitals.

“As our ability to study the three-dimensional structure of peptides improves, we can build better profiles
that will allow for the development of peptides that selectively and potently attack bacteria cells,” Hong said.

Hong’s research has earned her several prestigious early-career academic awards. In 2001, she earned the highly competitive National Science Foundation CAREER award. In 2002, she was named an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow. And in 2003, she won the prestigious American Chemical Society Award for Pure Chemistry.

When not perfecting Peptide, Hong is with her husband, Klaus Schmidt-Rohr, also an award-winning chemistry professor at ISU, and her children, Christina
and Laura.

“Iowa appeals to us,” Hong said. “This is a place where both of us could thrive in our research and our family would benefit from the quality of life here. We wanted to be where the good people are, professionally and personally.”

Hong admits that prior to starting a family, work garnered 90 percent of her time. Now, she strives for a balance.

“Playing with children is the most enjoyable activity in the world,” Hong said. “It’s fascinating to watch children grow and learn. There are no limits to their imaginations.”

Read on | Mark Gordon: GAMESS people play

About the Writer | Kevin Brown is a freelance writer from Pleasant Hill, Iowa.