Chien Ho, PhD

Dr. Chien Ho is an Alumni Professor of Biological Sciences, Department of Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). He earned a PhD from Yale University and completed his postdoctoral training in the Departments of Chemistry and Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A former recipient of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute MERIT Award, Dr. Ho is an Academician of Academia Sinica and actively involved in research efforts rooted in understanding the relationship between structure and function in biological systems. This is made possible by correlating information obtained from biochemical, biophysical, and molecular biological techniques. In 2013, he was named a Fellow of the International Society for the Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) and also received its Gold Medal Award for his contributions to the development of in-vivo tracking of immune cells by MRI. Dr. Ho has two major research projects currently underway:

• The study of human normal and mutant hemoglobins in order to understand the molecular mechanism of transport of oxygen from the lungs to the tissues:  His team has constructed an expression plasmid to produce unmodified human normal adult hemoglobin (Hb) in Escherichia coli. With this expression system, they can design and express any mutant hemoglobins needed for the research on the structure-function relationship in hemoglobin. His hemoglobin research is an excellent illustration of the power of combining information obtained from X-ray crystallography, NMR spectroscopy, computer modeling, molecular genetics, and functional studies to correlate the structure-dynamics-function relationship of an allosteric protein under physiological conditions at atomic resolution.

• The application of NMR to living systems, both by imaging (MRI) and by spectroscopic (MRS) methods: Dr. Ho and his team have developed techniques to monitor the migration of immune cells in vivo by MRI using dextran- or polyethylene glycol (PEG)-coated superparamagnetic iron oxide particles as contrast agents. Through this work, his laboratory recently developed a new methodology to deliver anti-cancer nanodrugs with reduced off-target toxicities and improved efficacy.

Dr. Ho is a member of the following professional societies:

• American Chemical Society
• American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
• Biophysical Society
• International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine
• The Protein Society
• American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Sigma Xi Society
• Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance
• International Society of Magnetic Resonance

View a partial list of Dr. Ho’s publications here.