DR. M. H. STROMER
AWARDED FOR MEATS RESEARCH
Well known for his use of state-of-the-art electron microscopy, light microscopy, and biochemical techniques as tools, Dr. Stromer has sought to improve our understanding of how muscle is transformed into high-quality meat products and improvement of these processes. He demonstrated that a major site of structural weakening or disintegration in skeletal muscle postmortem is the Z line and adjacent regions. This led him to develop a method for selectively extracting Z lines so that Z line constituents could be studied in detail. Dr. Stromer's studies established that α-actinin cross-linked actin filaments in the Z line and changes in the amount of thin filament overlap in the Z line affect Z line structure. These observations coupled with computer analysis led Dr. Stromer and his colleagues to develop a detailed model for the skeletal muscle Z line.
Dr. Stromer's studies on the Z line region also demonstrated that intermediate filaments span from Z line to Z line in adjacent myofibrils and from Z lines in peripheral myofibrils to the sarcolemma. This intracellular network is referred to as the muscle cell cytoskeleton and has a major impact on integrity and tenderness of meat. To better understand the properties of this network, Dr. Stromer identified the conditions required for assembly and for disassembly of these filaments. He and his co-workers also established that desmin, the major protein of muscle intermediate filaments, is significantly degraded by 3 to 4 days postmortem. Dr. Stromer also used antibodies to desmin and electron-dense labels that permitted him to positively identify and observe intermediate filaments in the electron microscope. These studies provided additional details of the linkage between intermediate filaments and Z lines and have also shown that intermediate filaments are directly connected to mitochondria and nuclei.
Dr. Stromer is also studying postmortem changes in specific myofibrillar and other cytoskeletal proteins. He and his students used antibodies to conclusively identify the 30-kDa polypeptide associated with improved meat tenderness as a troponin-T fragment. He and his students have shown that electrical stimulation enhances the rate of postmortem degradation of titin and nebulin filaments in Bos taurus cattle.
Dr. Stromer and his students and colleagues have published 165 refereed papers, invited reviews and abstracts. In 1974-75, Dr. Stromer was an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow and in 1988 was a Fulbright Fellow, both at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg, Germany. He was awarded the Distinguished Research Award from the American Meat Science Association in 1989. In 1996, Dr. Stromer was a Fulbright Fellow at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Salzburg.
Dr. Stromer received a B.S. degree in Animal Science and a B.S. degree in Agricultural Education (double major) from Iowa State University in 1959. He worked for Hormel & Company 3-1/2 years before entering graduate school at Iowa State University in 1962. He earned the Ph.D. degree in 1966. From 1966 to 1968, Dr. Stromer was a postdoctoral fellow in biochemistry at Carnegie-Mellon University. He joined the faculty of Iowa State University in 1968, where he currently is a Professor of Animal Science, Food Science, and of Biochemistry.
Dr. Marvin H. Stromer is the recipient of the 1996 American Society of Animal Science Meats Research Award for his work in microscopy studies of muscle tissue. The award is presented by Lilly Research Laboratories.
mstromer@iastate.edu
January 1997