Abstract:
Zinc is an essential micronutrient that contributes to sustaining life in complex organisms such as humans to organisms as miniscule as the baker's yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Processes and functions that zinc is a part of include regulation of genes, cell differentiation, apoptosis (programmed cell death), and maintenance of health. Zinc's exact role in these processes is not fully known due to the difficulty in studying zinc in an intracellular fashion. If a method could be developed to study intracellular zinc in an efficient manner, advancements in human health may be possible. My research focused on trying to accomplish this. I used nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) in order to attempt to measure intracellular zinc compounds. Zinc is not visible by NMR methods alone but can be tracked in this fashion when an indicator molecule such as F-BAPTA is used that binds zinc. Thus, making a complex that is NMR visible. My goal was to load yeast cells with F-BAPTA so that I could use NMR to measure intracellular zinc concentrations. I discuss my research in three different styles. Part one is a general summary of the results of my study, part two is a reflection on my time as a researcher, and part three is the formal laboratory report covering my research.
