Jordan Alcasas
News Editor
Hou Ung, assistant professor of chemistry, shared his research into chemical compounds – and the importance of funding faculty and student research projects Tuesday in the Quay Davis Boardroom in front of an audience of about 30.
Ung was the 2025 recipient of the La Verne scholar award, which comes with a grant for newer faculty whose research shows promise.
Ung’s research involved constructing and experimenting on molecules for various purposes. One of the main ones was for recycling, as constructed molecules could, in theory, deconstruct plastic polymers that are found in water bottles and bottle caps.
“I can’t speak about the funding, but what I can look at instead is, I always break it down to the individual component,” Ung said. “I use it as a building block for something else.”
In a lab, these polymers can be broken down, so the goal with this research is to help make recycling and breaking down these polymers easier. He explained that bottles and bottle caps are all made of different polymers that have different molecular construction. For example, polyethylene terephthalate, or PETE, is what you find in a standard water bottle.
“We’re trying to find a better way to break P-E-T-E apart,” Ung said. “In organic chemistry, later on we’ll teach you how to break it apart in a lab.”
He elaborated on how building different types of molecules in a lab could also help to treat disease such as cancer because those constructed molecules can help break down cancer cells.
Creating these molecules could help form better chemical bonds, such as those between Guanine and Cytosine, two of the major building blocks found in DNA. If those bonds are of the same charge on both sides, then they can flip, which would cause difficulty in constructing these molecules used to treat cancer.
“My goal is to design a type of molecule that can bond to the left or the right side no matter which flips,” Ung said. “By having this molecule, it can still be connected in this way. If you have two of the same color, it will repel.”
Ung said that he also had many collaborators on his research to help with resources he may not have had access to. He even employed freshmen during his research to run computations for him as a way of involving them.
“These are novel compounds not commercially available,” Ung said. “Luckily, I have friends at other universities… I have a collaborator in New York who does computations with me…Without funding, we cannot purchase these compounds.”
Questions and discussion followed the formal part of Ung’s lecture. And the discussion led back to the topic of funding.
“We want to be as resourceful as possible at the University,” Provost Ken O’Donnell said. “Money is tight these days… so taking advantage of collaboration is the only way forward.”
Jordan Alcasas can be reached at jordan.alcasas@laverne.edu.
Jordan Alcasas is a sophomore journalism major with a concentration in print and online journalism. He is the news editor for the Campus Times, and previously served as social media editor and a staff writer.
