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Lecture on June 18, 2015

Time: 10:00, June 18, 2015

Venue: Conference Room on the 8th Floor

Speaker: Prof. Chen Min  The Univeristy of Sydney

Title: Novel chlorophylls and new directions in photosynthesis research

Introduction to the Speaker:

Biographical details:

  Ph. D, (2003, Sydney), M.Sc & B Sc. (NENU, China)

  Postdoctoral Fellow, ANU, 2003

  Australian Research Council (ARC) Postdoctoral Fellow, USyd, 2004 - 2006

  Research Fellow, USyd, 2007

  ARC QEII Fellow, USyd, 2008 - 2012

  Associate Professor, USyd, 2011 - 2014

  ARC Future Fellow, USyd, 2013 - 2016

  Professor, USyd, 2015 - present

  Research interests:

  Prof. Chen’s research interests are primarily concerned with elucidating the molecular and biochemical mechanisms of the energy-storing reactions and photo-regulatory processes in photosynthetic organisms, especially the function of red-shifted chlorophylls in oxygenic photosynthetic organisms (cyanobacteria and algae). They exploit the relative simplicity of oxygenic photosynthetic bacteria (cyanobacteria) or unicellular algae to study the light-harvesting systems, natural variation of the light-harvesting strategy, energy transfer and the function/structure of the pigment-protein complexes involved in these processes. They use a variety of approaches - molecular genetics, protein engineering, confocal fluorescence microscopy, liquid chromatography as well as structural and spectroscopic methods.

  As a part of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis, they are now increasingly concentrating on improving light harvesting efficiency by extending the photosynthetic active solar spectral region, enhancing light penetration into crop canopies and reducing the wastage of excess sunlight.

  Broad research areas: Plant molecular biology, biochemistry of pigments, photosynthesis

  Awards and honours:

  Peter Goldcare Award of the Australian Society of Plant Sciences 2013

  The Robin Hill Award of International Society of Photosynthesis Research 2013

  ARC Future Fellowship 2013-2016

  Finalist in Scientific Research by Australian Museum Eureka Prize 2012

  Science Minister’s Prize for Life Scientist of Year 2011

  ARC QE II Fellowship 2008-2012

  ARC APD Fellowship 2004-2006