Hong Ma Named Distinguished Professor of Biology

30 July 2008 — Hong Ma, professor of biology, has been named a Distinguished Professor of Biology at Penn State. This title is presented in recognition of his exceptional record of teaching, research, and service to the University community.

Ma's research focuses on the molecular basis of plant reproduction. In particular, he is interested in one of the most important and basic of biological processes, the production of eggs and sperm. Ma uses a variety of approaches to understand this topic, including studies of the molecular genetics of flower development and genome-based studies of flower evolution. This work is widely applicable to all organisms that reproduce sexually, including humans.

In one of Ma's research projects, he is using both naturally mutated and genetically altered plants to analyze the regulatory genes that control early flower development. In particular, he is studying a family of genes that may regulate protein turnover during development. These genes play important roles in normal growth and development of floral organs and the reproductive success of flowering plants.

In another project, Ma is working to understand the genes that are important for male meiosis, the process by which cell division gives rise to sperm. Ma's group has discovered several new genes that are important for male meiosis in the plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Although these genes are similar to genes in other organisms, their functions in meiosis were not revealed previously. As a result of their work with these genes, Ma's group may have discovered novel regulators of meiosis.

Ma has been the recipient of numerous awards, including Penn State's 2004-2005 Faculty Scholar Medal for Life and Health Science, which recognizes scholarly or creative excellence represented by a single contribution or a series of contributions around a coherent theme. He also received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2004 and an American Cancer Society Junior Faculty Research Award in 1994.

Ma received his bachelor's degree from Temple University in 1983 and his Ph.D. degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1988. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the California Institute of Technology from 1988 to 1990. In 1998, he joined the faculty of the Department of Biology at Penn State.

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