The School of Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Biophysical, biochemical, physiological and historical aspects of oxygenic photosynthesis; photochemistry and biophysical chemistry of reaction center chlorophyll a-complexes and of intact photosynthetic systems; mechanisms of primary photochemical events and oxygen evolution; pathways of electron and proton transport. Current research involves collaborative work with the laboratory of Professor Robert Clegg on FLIM (Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy) of single algal cells and leaves of plants under stress (light, temperature, mutation, and insect herbivory).

Recent interest is in research on the history of oxygenic photosynthesis research (Editor, Historical Corner, Photosynthesis Research), in particular on the bitter controversy on the minimum quantum yield of photosynthesis between the Nobel-laureate Otto Warburg and Robert Emerson, discoverer of the concept of Photosynthetic Unit and the Emerson Enhancement Effect that led to the current picture of photosynthesis. Future history research will deal with the contributions in photosynthesis of Nobel-laureate James Franck, and of Andrew Benson, whose work led to the award of Nobel Prize to Melvin Calvin. Contributions to Photosynthesis Education through creation of Web sites and in the preparation of the state-of-the-art advances in all aspects of photosynthesis and respiration are other major goals (Series Editor, Advances in Photosynthesis and Respiration, Kluwer Academic, Volumes 1-15 are already published). This involves obtaining comprehensive molecular and integrated theoretical understanding of the photosynthetic reactions and their relationships to respiration.