Hongming Zhang is a research assistant professor in the Department of Endodontology at the Kornberg School of Dentistry. Prior to coming to Temple, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Virginia Commonwealth University, where he conducted studies on cell signaling molecules in cancer cells, and later, investigated gene products of a bacterial virus that infects cells of the Lyme disease-causing spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi. Prior to this, he was a postdoctoral fellow of the Feinberg Graduate School at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, Israel. There, using gene cloning and other molecular biological techniques, he investigated the interactions of the tomato and its pathogens Fusarium and Verticillium, and developed transgenic, disease-resistant tomatoes. His current research activity is focused upon genetically engineering bacterial viruses, and lytic enzymes produced by these viruses, to yield new antimicrobial agents that will be therapeutically useful for treating antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections.

Dr. Zhang received a master’s degree in plant sciences and a PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology from the China Agricultural University in Beijing.