DIDACTIC Lecture Abstract:

"From photons to function in living organisms: fundamentals of ultrafast spectroscopy of photosensory proteins"

In the lecture, we will introduce fundamental concepts related to light-harvesting in living organisms through photosensory proteins.

Additionally, we will provide an overview of ultrafast spectroscopic methods and analyses employed by the community and specifically by our group to study this subject.

SCIENTFIC Lecture Abstract:

"Photosynthetic proteins in action! Towards a real‐time investigation of how light‐harvesting is regulated in photosynthetic organisms"

Plants and algae provide a natural example of how solar energy can be converted into chemical energy in the presence of oxygen while preventing photodamage. It has now been established that plants and algae prevent photooxidation by activating a rapidly inducible and reversible photoprotective mechanism at the level of their light-harvesting complexes. However, the precise activation process of this photoprotective mechanism remains unknown. We will here introduce our current understanding of how light-harvesting is regulated in plants and algae and, more generally, in oxygenic photosynthetic organisms. We will then highlight the spectroscopic tools developed by our group aimed at unraveling the molecular mechanisms governing the activation of photoprotection in photosynthetic organisms – in real time. Understanding both the mechanism and the rate at which plants can activate or deactivate photoprotection will provide answers to long-standing open questions in the fields of biophysics and physical chemistry. This knowledge may also be instrumental in inspiring new studies focused on maximizing plant productivity through the optimization of photoprotective responses.

Bio:

I am a physicist with experimental and computational expertise in biophysics, especially photosynthesis. I graduated with the highest distinction (cum laude) in physics from University of Roma Tre (IT) after completing an MSc thesis in molecular dynamics (MD) simulations at UC Berkeley (US) in Head-Gordon’s group. For my Ph.D., I joined Croce’s group at the VU Amsterdam (NL), where I combined ultrafast spectroscopy with MD simulations to study how photosynthetic proteins avoid photooxidation.

In 2018, I won a competitive national grant (VENI) from the Dutch Research Council (NWO), which allowed me to start leading my independent research line at VU Amsterdam. I studied photoprotection in prokaryotic and eukaryotic photosynthetic organisms and implemented new MD methods in photosynthesis. In October 2022, I was appointed Tenure-Track Professor and Group Leader at ICFO (ES). At ICFO, I built a fast-growing, interdisciplinary group that develops and applies spectroscopic and computational tools to study photoactive systems' functional responses to changes in structure, light, and environment. Our group secured multiple european and national awards and grants, including the 2025 Early Career Award of the European Society of Photobiology.