Professor Dongping Zhong, the Robert Smith Professor of Physics, and professor of chemistry and biochemistry, has been awarded a prestigious MIRA (Maximizing Investigators' Research Award) From the National Insitutes of Health.  This award totals $2,143,295 over a five year period. The goal of the MIRA is to increase efficiency and efficacy of NIGMS (National Institutes of General Medical Sciences) funding by providing greater stability and flexibility to investigators, thereby enhancing scientific productivity and the chances for important breakthroughs.  

Professor Zhong's research is critical to understanding the nature of elementary processes in bilogical systems, relating dynamics and structures to functions at the most fundamental level.  He uses state-of-the-art femtosecond lasers and the tools of molecular biology to study both molecurlar recognition and ultrafast protein dynamics of several important biological systems.  These include DNA-repair enzymes and photosensory proteins that are key to the synchronization of biological timing (circadian rythym).

 Learn more about Professor Zhong's group and their research at http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~dongping/.

Congratulations Dongping!