Min Chen (biologist)
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Min Chen is an
Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...
plant physiologist. She is a full professor and
Australian Research Council The Australian Research Council (ARC) is the primary non-medical research funding agency of the Australian Government, distributing more than in grants each year. The Council was established by the ''Australian Research Council Act 2001'', ...
Future Fellow in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Sydney. Her research is primarily concerned with elucidating the molecular and biochemical mechanism of the energy-storing reactions in
photosynthetic Photosynthesis ( ) is a Biological system, system of biological processes by which Photoautotrophism, photosynthetic organisms, such as most plants, algae, and cyanobacteria, convert light energy, typically from sunlight, into the chemical ener ...
organisms, especially the function of novel
photopigments Photopigments are unstable pigments that undergo a chemical change when they absorb light. The term is generally applied to the non-protein chromophore moiety of photosensitive chromoproteins, such as the pigments involved in photosynthesis and p ...
in oxygenic photosynthetic bacteria.


Early life and education

She was born in
Dalian Dalian ( ) is a major sub-provincial port city in Liaoning province, People's Republic of China, and is Liaoning's second largest city (after the provincial capital Shenyang) and the third-most populous city of Northeast China (after Shenyang ...
,
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
and educated in
Northeast Normal University Northeast Normal University (NENU; ) is a public normal university in Changchun, Jilin, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education, and co-funded by the Ministry of Education and the Jilin Provincial People's Government. The unive ...
, China - BSc in 1984 and MSc in 1987 - and received her PhD in 2003 from
University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...
.


Research

Her research found that
chlorophyll f Chlorophyll ''f'' (Chl ''f'') is a type form of chlorophyll that absorbs further in the red ( infrared light) than other chlorophylls. In 2010, it was reported by Min Chen to be present in stromatolites from Western Australia's Shark Bay ...
has an absorption maximum at 706nm
in vitro ''In vitro'' (meaning ''in glass'', or ''in the glass'') Research, studies are performed with Cell (biology), cells or biological molecules outside their normal biological context. Colloquially called "test-tube experiments", these studies in ...
, which suggests that oxygenic photosynthesis can be extended even further into the
infrared Infrared (IR; sometimes called infrared light) is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than that of visible light but shorter than microwaves. The infrared spectral band begins with the waves that are just longer than those ...
region, which may open up associated bioenergy applications. Red-shifted chlorophylls could be used extend light capture in crop plants. Chen is the University of Sydney node leader of Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis. The function of Chlorophyll f in photosynthetic reactions is uncertain and the ecological distribution of chlorophyll f remains unknown.


Awards

In October 2011, Chen was awarded the Science Minister’s Prize for Life Scientist of the Year, for her role in discovering a new form of chlorophyll, called
chlorophyll f Chlorophyll ''f'' (Chl ''f'') is a type form of chlorophyll that absorbs further in the red ( infrared light) than other chlorophylls. In 2010, it was reported by Min Chen to be present in stromatolites from Western Australia's Shark Bay ...
. In 2013 she was recipient of the Robin Hill Award of the International Society for Photosynthesis Research and in the same year awarded the Peter Goldacre Award by the Australian Society of Plant Scientists.


References


Further reading

* Chen M
Chlorophyll modifications and their spectral extension in oxygenic photosynthesis
''Annu. Rev. Biochem.'' 83, 317-340(2014) . * Chen M, Blankenship RE
Expanding the solar spectrum used by photosynthesis
''Trends Plant Sci.'' 16, 427-431(2011) . * Schliep M, Crossett B, Willows RD, Chen M
18O-labelling of chlorophyll d in acaryochloris marina reveal chlorophyll a and molecular oxygen are precursors
''J. Bio. Chem.'' 285, 28450-28456(2010) . * Chen M, Floetenmeyer M and Bibby TS
Supramolecular organization of phycobiliproteins in the chlorophyll d-containing cyanobacterium Acaryochloris marina
''FEBS Lett.'' 583, 2535-2539 (2009) * Swingley WD, Chen M, Cheung PC, Conrad AL, Dejesa LC, Hao J, Honchak BM, Karbach LE, Kurdoglu A, Lahiri S, Mastrian SD, Miyashita H, Page L, Ramakrishna P, Satoh S, Sattley WM, Shimada Y, Taylor HL, Tomo T, Tsuchiya T, Wang ZT, Raymond J, Mimuro M, Blankenship RE, and. Touchman JW
Genome expansion in the chlorophyll d-producing cyanobacterium Acaryochloris marina
''Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.'' 105, 2005-2010 (2008) * Kühl M, Chen M, Ralph P, Schreiber U and Larkum AWD
A niche for cyanobacteria containing chlorophyll d
''Nature'' 433 820 (2005) * Bibby TS, Nield J, Chen M, Larkum AWD and Barber J
Structure of a photosystem II supercomplex isolated from Prochloron didemni retaining its chlorophyll a/b light harvesting system
''Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.'' 100 9050–9054 (2003).


External links


Homepage of Min Chen at the University of Sydney
{{DEFAULTSORT:Min, Chen Living people 1963 births Chinese emigrants to Australia University of Sydney alumni Academic staff of the University of Sydney Australian women scientists Plant physiologists Northeast Normal University alumni Australian women biologists