Florida State University
The Team
Lei Zhu
PhD, Principal Investigator
BS, Chemistry, Beijing University
PhD, Chemistry, New York University
Postdoctoral, Organic Chemistry, University of Texas at Austin
Email: lzhu@chem.fsu.edu
Lei Zhu received his Bachelor's Degree in chemistry from Peking University in 1997. In that summer, Lei went to New York University for graduate studies in chemistry under the mentorship of Professor James Canary. After defending his PhD dissertation in January 2003, Lei joined Professor Eric Anslyn’s group at the University of Texas at Austin as a Postdoctoral Fellow. Upon completing his postdoctoral appointment, Lei started his independent career in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Florida State University in August 2005.
Joe Hurley
PhD Candidate, 5th year
Joe graduated from Northern Illinois University, IL with a B.S. in chemistry. Joe was accepted into the FSU graduate program and joined the group in 2016. His long-term research objective is researching the photophysical properties of light-emitting molecules that have the ability to switch between different ionic states. Joe plans to pursue a career in academia as a chemistry professor.
Kevin Little
PhD Candidate, 3rd year
Kevin graduated from Berry College in 2018. Following a year of experience in high school teaching, he was accepted into the FSU graduate program. Kevin joined the Zhu Group in Nov. 2019. His long-term research objectives are (1) developing new tools in chemical biology, and (2) applying these tools in studying how drug and other vital minerals/small molecules interact on a cellular level.
Brandon Nusser
PhD Candidate, 3rd year
Brandon graduated from California State University, Chico. He spent 10 weeks in the summer of 2018 as an REU student in the Zhu Group. Now he returned to the Zhu Group as a graduate student. Brandon's research involves developing fluorescent dyes that have excitation-dependent dual emission. They are both fundamentally interesting and potentially valuable as a new class of emitters in light-emitting devices.
Kristen Weeks
Graduate Student, 2nd year
Kristen graduated from College of Charleston in 2020. She did undergraduate research on biodegradable drug delivery polymers. She is also very active with scientific outreach. Kristen's research goals are developing new copper catalyzed "click" type reaction methodologies.
Dan Stone
Undergraduate Researcher, 2020-
Dan is a Junior who is interested in molecular biology and cell biology. He is involved in developing live-cell labeling tools that utilize bioorthogonal chemistry.
Gideon Ofosu Addai
Graduate Student, 1st year
Gideon graduated from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in 2020. He gained experience as a teaching assistant at KNUST for a year. Gideon's research goals involve exploring the impacts that organic chemistry has on chemical biology.
Yael Medley
Graduate Student, 1st year
Yael graduated from The University of South Florida in 2015. Following a few internship experiences, she was accepted to FSU. Her long-term research objectives are (1) Studying the properties of fluorophores using computational analysis (2) Designing synthetic strategies to produce these fluorophores and (3) Studying their photophysical properties. After she graduates, she plans to teach at a small college.
Shaun Crist
Undergraduate Researcher, 2020-
Shaun is a junior who is interested in the synthesis of organic fluorophores. He is interested in developing molecules for physcial organic experimentation.
Christelle Bucag
Undergraduate Researcher, 2021-
Christelle is a junior who is interested in organic synthesis and cell biology. She is involved in mass spectroscopy and synthesizing molecules used in cell labeling processes