Michal Hershfinkel is a Prof. in the department of Physiology and Cell Biology in Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Her main research focuses is revealing the cellular pathways activated by zinc, and the roles of zinc in regulating epithelial cell ion transport, proliferation as well as cancer cell migration and neuronal signaling. She identified a zinc sensing receptor, ZnR/GPR39, a Gq-coupled receptor that triggers calcium signaling and regulate ion transport in epithelial cells and neurons.