DIRECTORY LISTING
Biography
H. Cheng, Ph.D., Biological Sciences
Degrees
B.A, M.A., Fudan Univ., China
Ph.D., Univ. of Mass., Amherst
Postdoc., Mass. Institute of Technology
Research interests: Antibiotics discovery: A few years ago, we accidentally identified a set of unique conditions that can trigger commensal bacteria into producing bacterial culture supernatants with broad-spectrum antibiotic activities, including against the difficult to kill-Mycobacterium. We are currently focusing on identifying the cellular targets of this antibiotic activity using molecular biology approaches and identifying the antibiotic compound(s) in the supernatant using biochemical approaches.
Antifungals discovery: Yeast is part of a group of fungi which includes yeast, mushrooms, and mold that share our living environment. The fact that fungi share basic structures with human cells makes it difficult to find antifungals that can kill or inhibit fungi growth without harming human cells. This is the reason why there are limited number of antifungal drugs on the market. We have started a project to search for compounds that can inhibit the growth of yeast by triggering programmed cell death.
Bacterial host sensing mechanism: Bacteria have to sense the presence of their natural hosts and turn on the production of special factors that will enable the invasion of their natural hosts. Using the nitrogen-fixing symbiotic relationship between the Gram-negative soil bacterium, Sinorhizobium meliloti, and its plant host, alfalfa, as a model, we are studying the signaling function of a molecular switch, the RSI host invading switch and search for the signals sensed the RSI switch.