Our research focuses on the chloroplasts of plants, algae and diatoms, their free-living relatives the cyanobacteria, and other prokaryotes. We explore the regulation of photosynthetic light-harvesting and electron transport, light perception and responses and prokaryotic cell biology and physiology. We aim to understand the dynamic processes occurring in bacteria and in eukaryotic organelles using approaches ranging from molecular dynamics simulations to imaging by fluorescence microscopy and electron microscopy, combined with spectroscopy, biochemistry and molecular genetics. We have links with industrial concerns including Opti-Sciences Inc and Heinz Walz GmbH.
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Movement of cells of the cyanobacterium Synechocystis 6803 in response to light.
| Researcher | Title | Department |
Research Interests |
| Aksentijevic, Dr Dunja | Lecturer in Physiology/Biochemistry | Biochemistry |
Cardiac metabolism in health and disease, Inflammation in cardiac metabolic remodelling, Mitochondrial biology, Cardiac energetics |
| Duffy, Dr Christopher | Lecturer in Cellular and Molecular Biology | Biochemistry |
Light-harvesting, Photosynthesis, Computational Biology, Molecular physics, Xanthophylls |
| Engl, Dr Christoph | Lecturer in Microbiology | Biochemistry |
Molecular cell biology, Bacterial adaptation, Ribosome function, Bacterial plant-growth promotion, Single-cell & single-molecule imaging |
| Hanke, Dr Guy | Senior Lecturer in Plant Cell and Molecular Biology | Biochemistry |
Photosynthesis, Electron transport, Protein-protein interaction, Cell biology, Synthetic biology |
| Mullineaux, Prof Conrad |
Professor of Microbiology, Head of Cell and Molecular Biology Department |
Biochemistry | Photosynthesis, Electron transport, Cyanobacteria, Fluorescence imaging, Membrane dynamics, Bacterial cell biology |
| Professor in Biophysics | Biochemistry |
Photosynthesis, Light harvesting, Light adaptation memory, Structural dynamics, Genetics |
Our research receives financial support from:
Schorsch M, Kramer K, Goss T, Eisenhut M, Robinson N, Osman D, Wilde A, Sadaf S, Brückler H, Walder L, Scheibe R, Hase T, Hanke G (2018) A unique ferredoxin acts as a novel player in the low iron response of photosynthetic organisms. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA (in press)
Balevičius V, Fox K, Bricker W, Jurinovich S, Prandi I, Mennucci B, Duffy C (2017). Fine control of chlorophyll-carotenoid interactions defines the functionality of light-harvesting proteins in plants. Scientific Reports
Sacharz J, Giovagnetti V, Ungerer P, Mastrioanni G, Ruban A (2017). The xanthophyll cycle affects reversible PsbS-LHCII interactions to control non-photochemical quenching. Nature Plants
Engl C, Schaefer J, Kotta-Loizou I, Buck M (2016). Cellular and molecular phenotypes depending upon the RNA repair system RtcAB in Escherichia coli. Nucleic Acids Research
Schuergers N, Lenn T, Kampmann R, Meissner M, Esteves T, Temerinac-Ott M, Korvink J, Lowe A, Mullineaux C, Wilde A (2016). Cyanobacteria use micro-optics to sense light direction. eLife
Chmeliov J, Gelzinis A, Songaila E, Augulis R, Duffy C, Ruban A, Valkunas L (2016). The nature of self-regulation in photosynthetic light-harvesting antenna. Nature Plants
Aksentijević D, McAndrew D, Karlstädt A, Zervou S, Sebag-Montefiore L, Cross R, Douglas G, Regitz-Zagrosek V, Lopaschuk G, Neubauer S, Lygatea C (2014). Cardiac dysfunction and peri-weaning mortality in malonyl-coenzyme A decarboxylase (MCD) knockout mice as a consequence of restricting substrate plasticity. Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology
