Spring 2001 -- Vol. 18, No. 1

FACES OF PENN STATE

Davis Ng
Assistant Professor of biochemistry and
molecular biology

Davis Ng studies how secretive programs are designed. He also brings large doses of ingenuity and patience to his research, which ranks as a highly competitive and important area with medical applications.

Inside the laboratory of Davis Ng, almost everything looks the way one would expect. Counters and workbenches flank the walls of the large room and divide the place into spacious work areas. Glassware lines the shelves above the work spaces and a microscope sits on another workbench in the middle of one work area. Even the combination radio/compact disc player seems at home, providing music to work by as Ng and his students study how cells control secretory-pathway proteins.

Still, the sewing machine seems out of place--until the professor explains.

"It might be one of the most important instruments in our lab," Ng says. "We use it to prepare velvet squares that we use for transferring yeast colonies from one plate to another. That fabric came from the former West Germany, and it's perfect for what we need because its pile is very dense and has a consistent height. To keep the ends from fraying during washing, we sew the edges with the machine my wife donated to us."

Ng's methods for chasing down answers about how secreted proteins are controlled inside the cell--a difficult, elusive, and important area of research that has become highly competitive--include a large dose of common sense and resourcefulness. For example, some of the most useful clamps in his laboratory were not purchased from an educational research supply center. He picked those up at Sam's Club.

"One of the greatest challenges, and joys, of research is solving problems," Ng says. "There are the overall problems of the research and there are the problems of process--how to make it more efficient and productive. It's fun working to solve those problems, and they must be solved because quality can easily mean the difference between success and failure."

Ng applies that attention to detail and drive to all his work. Studying secretory proteins requires effort and patience.

"In Davis' field, ingenuity is often more important than instrumentation," says Robert Schlegel, head of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. "Many of his competitors are well-established, senior faculty with large and powerful operations. It is remarkable he and his three graduate students have discovered the mechanism by which certain types of aberrant proteins are sorted out of the cell and degraded. Those findings counter the current dogma and will turn the field on its end."

According to Ng, the delicate balance of cells can get disturbed even if the proteins that are supposed to be in a cell do exist there but are somehow improperly folded. Other scientists across the country and throughout the University are working on similar problems. Ng decided to continue his research at Penn State at least in part because of its proximity to other researchers in the Northeast and because of the opportunity for collaboration at the University.

Also, he appreciates the mix of senior and junior faculty in the department and the quality of life in State College for his family.

-- By Steve Sampsell

Back to Science Journal Spring 2001 Index

Penn State Home Page | Eberly College of Science | Find a Person | Locate a Building | Search | Site Index

Students | Alumni | Visitors | Researchers | Faculty and Staff | Postdoctoral Fellows | Corporate Interests
Academic Programs | Research | Dean's Office | Development and Alumni Relations | News and Events | Directory

This page was last updated on 12 March 2001

If you would like to communicate with the keepers of the Eberly College of Science Web server, send electronic mail to: science-web@thunder.science.psu.edu
Technology Webmaster: Joseph K. Carlson < jkc3@psu.edu >
Content Webmaster: Barbara Kennedy < science@psu.edu >