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