His professional interest include Chromatin biology, biotinylation of histones; epigenetics; gene regulation; DNA damage and repair; cell stress and senescence; heterochromatin and gene repression; nutrition. Dr. Zempleni was recently recognized as One of six finalists for the "Future Leader Award" by the International Life Sciences Institute USA in both the 2004 and 2005 competitions, Winner of the Mead Johnson Award 2006 by the American Society for Nutrition, Winner of the Gamma Sigma Delta Research Award 2007 by the Nebraska Chapter of Gamma Sigma Delta and his paper entitled “K4, K9, and K18 in human histone H3 are targets for biotinylation by biotinidase” was selected by Faculty of 1000 Biology for the significant contributions it makes to the chromatin field.