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Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry

 

BBSRC David Phillips Research Fellow

Research interests

Semi-artificial photosynthesis, (photo)electrochemistry, chemical biology, materials chemistry, bioenergetics

Current research

Our goal is to develop smart bio-hybrid approaches that can serve as tools to understand the bioenergetics of complex biological systems and as a platform to launch new biotechnologies to address a range of societal needs (including for renewable energy generation, carbon capture, precision farming, environmental sensing, and medicine). Currently, we are focused on re-wiring photosynthesis for sustainable photo-energy conversion. We work at the intersection of many disciplines, including physics, synthetic biology, chemical biology, engineering and material science; however, at the heart of our work is electrochemistry.

To find out more, please see our website (https://www.ch.cam.ac.uk/group/zhang).

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 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 at the Yusuf Hamied 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 and the L'Oreal UNESCO Sustainable Development award for Women in Science.

Publications

3D-printed hierarchical pillar array electrodes for high performance semi-artificial photosynthesis
J Zhang, X Chen, J Lawrence, L Wey, Q Jing, S Kar-Narayan, L Schertel, S Vignolini, C Howe
(2021)
3D-printed hierarchical pillar array electrodes for high performance semi-artificial photosynthesis
J Zhang, X Chen, J Lawrence, L Wey, Q Jing, S Kar-Narayan, L Schertel, S Vignolini, C Howe
(2021)
A biophotoelectrochemical approach to unravelling the role of cyanobacterial cell structures in exoelectrogenesis
L Wey, J Lawrence, X Chen, R Clark, D Lea-Smith, J Zhang, C Howe
(2021)
2021.04.01.437897
Phenazines as model low-midpoint potential electron shuttles for photosynthetic bioelectrochemical systems
ER Clifford, RW Bradley, LT Wey, JM Lawrence, X Chen, CJ Howe, JZ Zhang
– Chem Sci
(2021)
12,
3328
Author Correction: Advancing photosystem II photoelectrochemistry for semi-artificial photosynthesis
JZ Zhang, E Reisner
– Nature Reviews Chemistry
(2020)
4,
381
Advancing photosystem II photoelectrochemistry for semi-artificial photosynthesis
JZ Zhang, E Reisner
– Nature Reviews Chemistry
(2019)
4,
6
The Development of Biophotovoltaic Systems for Power Generation and Biological Analysis.
LT Wey, P Bombelli, X Chen, JM Lawrence, CM Rabideau, SJL Rowden, JZ Zhang, CJ Howe
– ChemElectroChem
(2019)
6,
5375
Semi-Artificial Photosynthetic Tandem Systems
JZ Zhang
– ECS Meeting Abstracts
(2019)
MA2019-04,
426
(Invited) The Photoelectrochemistry of Photosynthetic Machineries: From Isolated Proteins to Living Cells
JZ Zhang
– ECS Meeting Abstracts
(2019)
MA2019-04,
375
Advancing Techniques for Investigating the Enzyme-Electrode Interface.
N Kornienko, KH Ly, WE Robinson, N Heidary, JZ Zhang, E Reisner
– Accounts of Chemical Research
(2019)
52,
1439
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