Food Science and Human Nutrition Department

Robert J. Cousins, Ph.D.

Eminent Scholar | Boston Family Professor of Nutrition | Director, Center for Nutritional Sciences

Office: FSHN 201A

Phone: 352.294.3700

LAB INFORMATION | CENTER FOR NUTRITIONAL SCIENCES | WIKIPEDIA

Biography

Dr. Cousins' research focuses on understanding the nutritional significance of zinc and how this micronutrient acts as a signaling molecule where specific zinc transporters target zinc to cellular sites to influence function. His laboratory makes extensive use of mutant mouse models and cell level experimentation and capitalizes on techniques of molecular biology and state-of-the-art analytical methods. He has trained over 75 doctoral students and postdoctoral associates. Dr. Cousins has been President of both FASEB and the American Society for Nutrition (ASN). His numerous research awards include the Osborne & Mendel Award (ASN), MERIT Award from the National Institutes of Health, and Bristol Myers-Squibb Mead Johnson Award. He is a Fellow of the ASN and American Association for the Advancement of Science and an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Cousins’ research has evolved from understanding the nutritional significance of zinc to elucidating how this micronutrient acts as a signaling molecule through regulated cellular transporters to produce influences on cellular function, host defense mechanisms and specific diseases. The laboratory members work as a team but on individual projects built around the central theme of zinc metabolism and function using the latest available technologies. The laboratory is unique in that this experimental theme is maintained from experiments at the molecular level, to those with isolated cells, with mutant mouse models, and to those with human subjects.

Post Doctoral. University of Wisconsin, Madison; Biochemistry, 1968-1971
Ph.D. University of Connecticut, Storrs; Nutritional Biochemistry, 1968
M.S. University of Connecticut, Storrs; Animal Sciences, 1965
B.A. University of Vermont, Burlington; Zoology-Chemistry, 1963

HUN 6356 Minerals in Nutrition 3 credits Spring, odd numbered years
HUN 6812 Analytical Techniques in Nutritional Biochemistry 1 credit Spring, even numbered years

National Academy of Sciences, Elected Member, 2000
Bristol-Myers, Squibb/Mead Johnson Award for Distinguished Achievement in Biomedical (Nutrition) Research, 2003
American Society for Nutrition, Osborne and Mendel Award for Outstanding Basic Research, 1989
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, MERIT Award, 1992-2000
USDA, Secretary’s Honor Award, 2000
American Society of Nutrition, Dannon Institute Mentorship Award, 2010
American College of Nutrition, Research Award, 2003
University of Florida, Gamma Sigma Delta Senior Faculty Award of Merit, 1993
American Society for Nutrition, President, 1996-1997
International Society for Trace Element Research in Humans, Distinguished Scientist, 2011
American Society for Nutrition, Mead Johnson Award for Research in Nutrition, 1979
University of Florida, Eminent Scholar Chair, 1982-present
USDA Agricultural Research Service, W.O. Atwater Lectureship, 2011
Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), President and Board Chairman, 1991-1992
University of Florida, Sigma Xi Senior Faculty Research Award, 2012
American Society for Nutrition, Elected Fellow, 2011
American Association for the Advancement of Science, Elected Fellow, 2014

NAMED LECTURESHIPS

Prichard Lecture in Nutritional Sciences (Inaugural),
Cornell University, 2015
W. O. Atwater Lecturer
(Agricultural Research Service, USDA), 2011
Rank Prize Lecturer , Grasmere, UK, 2008
G. Malcolm Trout Visiting Scholar, Michigan State University, 2003
Eric Underwood Lectureship, TEMA 10, Evian, France, 1999
Lucille B. Hurley Lectureship, University of California, Davis, 1997
Hans Fisher Lectureship in Nutrition, Rutgers University, 1995
Stars of Nutrition Lecturer, Pennsylvania State University, 1990
James Waddell Memorial Lecturer, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1989
Distinguished Speaker in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology,
University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, 1989
Mary S. Shorb Lecturer in Nutrition, University of Maryland, 1989
Burroughs-Wellcome, Visiting Professorship, FASEB Sponsored,
Auburn University, 1986
John Lee Pratt Lecturer in Nutrition, Virginia Tech, 1980