Presidential Young Investigator Award

在光合作用的反应中心中，当一个光子被吸收时，一个电子被迫按顺序穿过构成中心的各种组成分子，这种反应中心具有双重对称轴。然而，令人惊讶的是，电子转移遵循不对称的途径，只沿着对称单元的一个特定的一侧移动。Woodbury博士将结合分子遗传学技术和现代光谱分析技术来确定电子传递的方向、动力学和热力学，试图解释这个令人困惑的电荷分离过程。

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.