Lei Zhu, an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, will lead a $1.3 million, five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health to find a way to measure zinc in the body.

Zinc is more important than most of us realize, he says. “Just to cite a few examples, it plays a major role in cell division, the synthesis of DNA, the production of proteins and enzymes, and proper immune function.” However, there is still a lot that researchers do not know about zinc in the body, partly because it is hard to measure.

Zhu and his colleagues plan to use fluorescence microscopy in their study. “The successful completion of this research project will result in a valuable new technique for measuring the distribution of [zinc] ions in various biological systems throughout the body,” including the hippocampus region of the brain, Zhu says. This research could have implications for treatment of mental illnesses that include depression, autism, and schizophrenia. Working with Zhu are Cathy Levenson, an associate professor in the College of Medicine, and Michael Davidson, a world-renowned microscopist at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory. To read more, go to http://www.fsu.edu/news/2010/01/26/zinc.study/