First-Year Southern Miss Chemistry Professor Receives NIH Grant

University of Southern Mississippi chemistry professor Dr. Yong Zhang has already made his mark in just his first year as a member of the Southern Miss faculty.

Zhang's research, which involves a computational approach to studying disease proteins, recently earned an Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), providing a total of $217,500 in funding over two years.

His research project, titled "Structure, Spectra and Roles of Metal and Active Site in HNO Heme Protein Complex," includes the use of high accuracy computational tools and experimental spectroscopic data that will provide the missing details of structural and functional aspects of HNO interactions with metal centers in proteins.

"The high accuracy and innovative results from this project will benefit future studies in this area, assisting investigations of problems in health, diseases and therapeutic treatments involving HNO," Zhang said. "It also offers promise for the treatment of heart disease and stroke."

HNO has been recently recognized as an important signaling molecule in a broad range of physiological processes related to health such as vascular relaxation, enzyme activity regulation and neurological function regulation. It also has extensive pharmacological effects, including enhanced cell oxidative stress, blood-brain barrier disruption and neutrophil infiltration during renal ischemia/reperfusion.

Zhang's research will provide a high accuracy structure of MbHNO, which will be the first atomic level structure for HNO protein complexes, and will also offer valuable insights into the HNO interaction with the protein active site as well as from relevant systems.

"We're pleased Dr. Zhang has obtained his first grant as a faculty member from the NIH," said Dr. Robert Bateman, chairman of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. "This is particularly noteworthy because he was funded on the first attempt, and because NIH funds few computational chemists."
The three goals of the NIH's AREA program are to support meritorious research, to strengthen the research environment of the institution and to expose students to research. Assisting Zhang in his laboratory is Southern Miss senior Chris Mills of Hattiesburg. 
Zhang becomes the fourth member of the department's faculty with current NIH funding. "This illustrates the growing strength in biomedical research within our department," Bateman said.

To learn more about the Southern Miss Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, online visit http://www.usm.edu/chem/

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