- David Phillips Fellow
- Jenny completed her PhD in bioinorganic chemistry at the University of Sydney, Australia, with a brief stint at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where she developed redox active platinum-based anti-cancer agents and studied their biodistribtion/metabolism within tumour models. She then became a Marie Curie Incoming International Fellow at the University of Cambridge, working with Prof Erwin Reisner to explore how biocatalysts can be exploited to generate solar fuels. In particular, she worked on developing strategies to re-wire oxidoreductases, such as the water-oxidation enzyme photosystem II, to electrodes/semiconductors/other proteins in an emerging field known as 'semi-artificial photosynthesis'. She has since been awarded a BBSRC David Phillips Fellowship and started her independent group in 2018 at the Department of Chemistry. Here, she takes on the re-wiring of photosynthesis to another level of complexity - in live cells! She has recently been awarded the RSC Felix Franks Biotechnology Medal for her research work.
- Research interests
- Semi-artificial photosynthesis, (photo)electrochemistry, bioinorganic chemistry, chemical biology, materials chemistry, 3D-printing, biofilm chemistry
- Currently, one of our main focuses is in the unraveling of photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is the primary route by which solar energy is harnessed to fuel life on Earth and is key in regulating our planet's carbon, nitrogen and oxygen cycles. Despite its importance, there remain significant knowledge gaps in the redox chemistry and electron transport pathways within photosynthesis. Moreover, photosynthetic organisms have evolved impressive and sustainable mechanisms for converting Earth abundant resources (sunlight, carbon dioxide and water) into complex organic matter. As such, scientists of all disciplines are trying to understand and exploit their complex chemistry to benefit agriculture, the environment, and to provide clean energy.
- To find out more, please see our website (link is on the right).
Dr Zhang discusses her research
Publications
Phenazines as model low-midpoint potential electron shuttles for photosynthetic bioelectrochemical systems
– Chemical Science
(2021)
12,
3328
(DOI: 10.1039/d0sc05655c)
Advancing photosystem II photoelectrochemistry for semi-artificial photosynthesis (vol 4, pg 6, 2020)
– Nature Reviews Chemistry
(2020)
4,
381
(DOI: 10.1038/s41570-020-0193-0)
Advancing photosystem II photoelectrochemistry for semi-artificial photosynthesis
– Nature Reviews Chemistry
(2019)
4,
6
(DOI: 10.1038/s41570-019-0149-4)
The Development of Biophotovoltaic Systems for Power Generation and Biological Analysis.
– ChemElectroChem
(2019)
6,
5375
(DOI: 10.1002/celc.201900997)
Advancing Techniques for Investigating the Enzyme–Electrode Interface
– Acc Chem Res
(2019)
52,
1439
(DOI: 10.1021/acs.accounts.9b00087)
Structure-Activity Relationships of Hierarchical Three-Dimensional Electrodes with Photosystem II for Semiartificial Photosynthesis
– Nano letters
(2019)
19,
1844
(DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.8b04935)
Oxygenic Photoreactivity in Photosystem II Studied by Rotating Ring Disk Electrochemistry.
– Journal of the American Chemical Society
(2018)
140,
17923
(DOI: 10.1021/jacs.8b08784)
Modulating the Cellular Uptake of Fluorescently Tagged Substrates of Prostate-Specific Antigen before and after Enzymatic Activation
– Bioconjugate chemistry
(2018)
30,
124
Bias-free photoelectrochemical water splitting with photosystem II on a dye-sensitized photoanode wired to hydrogenase
– Nature Energy
(2018)
3,
944
(DOI: 10.1038/s41560-018-0232-y)
Interfacing nature’s catalytic machinery with synthetic materials for semi-artificial photosynthesis
– Nat Nanotechnol
(2018)
13,
890
(DOI: 10.1038/s41565-018-0251-7)
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