Presidential Young Investigator Award

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The photosynthetic reaction center in which, on absorption of a photon of light, an electron is forced to travel sequentially through various component molecules making up the center, has a two-fold axis of symmetry. However, it is surprising that the electron transfer follows an asymmetric pathway, travelling down only one specific side of the symmetrical unit. Dr. Woodbury will combine molecular genetic techniques with modern spectroscopic analysis techniques to determine direction, kinetics and thermodynamics of the electron transport in an attempt to explain this puzzling charge separation process.