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Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry

 

BBSRC David Philips 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 recycling, 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.

Watch Dr Zhang discuss her research

Publications

Fluorescent analogues of quinoline reveal amine ligand loss from cis and trans platinum(II) complexes in cancer cells
EJ New, C Roche, R Madawala, JZ Zhang, TW Hambley
– Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry
(2009)
103,
1120
Accumulation of an anthraquinone and its platinum complexes in cancer cell spheroids: the effect of charge on drug distribution in solid tumour models
NS Bryce, JZ Zhang, RM Whan, N Yamamoto, TW Hambley
– Chemical Communications
(2009)
8,
2673
Investigations using fluorescent ligands to monitor platinum(IV) reduction and platinum(II) reactions in cancer cells
EJ New, R Duan, JZ Zhang, TW Hambley
– Dalton Transactions
(2009)
3092
Platinum Anticancer Drugs, Chemical Biology of
J Zhang, R Whan, T Hambley
(2008)
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