Duane Hoch, a postdoctoral researcher at Cornell studying bacteria that cause Legionnaires' disease, has received the 2009 Sam and Nancy Fleming Research Fellowship from Cornell's Weill Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology.

Hoch, who works in the laboratory of molecular medicine professor Ruth Collins, began the three-year fellowship Sept. 1.

Postdoctoral researchers at Cornell's Ithaca campus who have received a Ph.D. or M.D. within two years of the application deadline are eligible for the fellowship and must be nominated by their lab's principal investigator. The fellowship provides a stipend and research funding to train in research areas aligned with the Weill Institute's focus on answering fundamental questions in cell biology.

"This kind of research support is invaluable to recruit and retain the top postdoc talent who help drive research at Cornell," said Weill Institute Director Scott Emr.

Hoch will use his fellowship to study the bacterium Legionella pneumophila, which causes 90 percent of cases of infectious Legionnaires' disease and may lead to flulike symptoms and pneumonia. L. pneumophila commonly lives inside freshwater amoeba and can get into people's lungs through water aerosols from air conditioners. In humans, the bacterium injects proteins into cells with a tiny molecular syringe, and then enters the cell in a capsule and takes control of cellular functions to enhance its own virulence and ability to infect other cells.

Hoch aims to determine the role of a specific, but little-known, protein believed to be an enzyme that protects the bacterium by modifying proteins in the host cell that would otherwise destroy it. In the last year, Hoch has already begun determining the 3-D structure of the bacterial protein, said Emr.

"He is on his way to solving this and providing insights into molecular details of this critical chemical reaction," Emr added. The work may add to our understanding of basic problems of cell biology and the cellular basis of disease, he said.

Last year's inaugural Fleming fellow, Jason MacGurn, has been working on cells' complex systems for recycling, reusing and disposing of damaged, nonfunctional waste proteins. When such systems malfunction and these proteins accumulate, they can become toxic, resulting in many diseases, including Alzheimer's and cystic fibrosis, and developmental disorders.

The fellowship was established in 2008 through a gift from Sam Fleming '62, BChemE '63, chairman of Cornell's Life Sciences Advisory Board, a member of the Weill Cornell Board of Overseers and former vice chairman of the Cornell Board of Trustees, along with his wife, Nancy. The Flemings actively support the New Life Sciences Initiative, the McMullen Engineering Scholarship program, Cornell Plantations, Cornell athletics and Greek life, and the Weill Cornell Medical College international exchange program.