 Research Interests
My research is concerned with the mechanism of energy-conversion and storage reactions in chemical and biological systems. The principle approach is to study excitation energy transfer and electron transfer processes using various ultrafast laser spectroscopy techniques. Insight can be gained into the mechanisms of the photosynthetic antenna and reaction center functions; and the knowledge can be applied to the design of molecular devices.
One of the systems studied, in collaboration with Neal Woodbury’s group, is the purple bacteria reaction center, a membrane bound pigment-protein complex which uses light energy to drive an electron across the photosynthetic membrane through a series of ultrafast chemical reactions. This solar energy to electrochemical energy conversion occurs on a picosecond time scale and has efficiency close to 100%.
 The research project, collaborating with Robert Blankenship, Petra Fromme, Andrew Webber and Wim Vermaas, is to understand the excitation energy transfer and charge separation processes in photosystem I and photosystem II from green bacteria and green algae. In those systems, large antenna arrays consisting up to 100 – 200 chlorophylls (or bacterochlorophylls) collect light and deliver the excitation energy to the reaction center, where electron transfer reactions take place, converting solar energy into chemical energy.
The collaboration work with Devens Gust, Thomas Moore and Ana Moore is on the subject of understanding energy and electron transfer in chemically synthesized compounds with mimic the functions of photosynthetic systems to utilize light energy in driving electron transfer reactions.
Recent Publications
Electronic Transitions of the Soret Band of Reaction Centers from Rhodobacter sphaeroides Studied by Femtosecond Transient Absorbance H. Wang, S. Lin and N. W. Woodbury, J. Phys. Chem B 110: 6956 - 6961(2006)
Directing electron transfer within Photosystem I by breaking H-bonds in the cofactor branches Li, Y.J., van der Est, A., Lucas, M. G., Ramesh, V. M., Ge, F. F., Petrenko, A., Lin, S., Webber, A. N., Rappaport, F., Redding, K. PNAS 103: 2144 – 2149 (2006)
Mechanism of carotenoid singlet excited state energy transfer in modified bacterial reaction centers S. Lin, E. Katilius, R. P. Ilagan, G. N. Gibson, H. A. Frank, N. W. Woodbury J. Phys. Chem. B 110: 15556-15563 (2006)
Purification and characterization of the B808-866 light-harvesting complexes from green non-sulfur bacterium Chloroflexus aurantiacus Y. Y. Xin, S. Lin, G. A. Montaño, R. E. Blankenship, Photosynthesis Research 86: 155-163 (2005)
Spectral and kinetic analysis of the energy coupling in the PSI-LHCI supercomplex from the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii at 77 K . A. N. Melkozernov, J. Kargul, S. Lin, J. Barber, R. E. Blankenship, Photosynthesis Research 86: 203 – 216 (2005)
Environmental Control of Primary Photochemistry in a Mutant Bacterial Reaction Center A. L. M. Haffa, S. Lin, R. LoBrutto, J. C. Williams, A. K.W. Taguchi, J. P. Allen, N. W. Woodbury, J. Phys. Chem B 109 (42):19923-19928 (2005)
The nature of the photosystem II reaction centre in the chlorophyll d-containing prokaryote, Acaryochloris marina Chen, M. Telfer, A., Lin, S., Pascal, A., Larkum, A. W. D., Barber, J., Blankenship, R. E Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences 4: 1060 – 1064 (2005)
Femtosecond spectroscopy of excitation energy transfer and initial charge separation in the reaction center of the photosynthetic bacterium Chloroflexus aurantiacus Biophysical Journal 88: 175A (2005)
Bi-Directional Electron Transfer in Photosystem I: Accumulation of A 0 - in A-Side or B-Side Mutants of the Axial Ligand to Chlorophyll A 0 VM Ramesh, Krysztof Gibasiewicz, Su Lin, Scott E Bingham and Andrew N. Webber, Biochemistry, 43:1369 –1375 (2004)
Spectroscopic properties of the main-form and high-salt peridinin-chlorophyll a-proteins from Amphidinium carterae R.P. Ilagan, S. Shima, A. Melkozernov, S. Lin, R.E. Blankship, F.P. Sharples, R.G. Hiller, R.R. Birge, and H.A. Frank Biochemistry 43:1478-1487 (2004)
Photolysis and Recombination of Adenosylcobalamin Bound to Glutamate Mutase Roseanne J. Sension, Allwyn G. Cole, Ahmasi D. Harris, Christel C. Fox, Neal Woodbury, Su Lin, E. Neil G. Marsh, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 126:1598-1599 (2004)
Controlling the Pathway of Photosynthetic Charge Separation in Bacterial Reaction Centers A. L. M. Haffa, S. Lin, J. C. Williams, B. P. Bowen, A. K. W. Taguchi, J. P. Allen, and N. W. Woodbury, J. Phys. Chem. B, 108:4-7 (2004)
Exciton Theory S. Lin, Encyclopedia of Plant and Crop Sciences pp 429-432 R.M. Goodman Ed., Marcel Dekker Inc. New York, NY (2004)
Carotenoid and Bacteriochlorophyll Energy Transfer in the B808-866 Complex from Chloroflexus aurantiacus G. A. Montano, Y. Xin, S. Lin, R. E. Blankenship, J. Phys. Chem. B, 108:10607 –10611 (2004)
Energy Coupling in the PSI-LHCI Supercomplex from the Green Alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii A. N. Melkozernov, J. Kargul, S. Lin, J. Barber, R. E. Blankenship,J. Phys. Chem. B, 108:10547 –10555 (2004)
Electron Transfer Dynamics in Rhodobacter Sphaeroides Reaction Center Mutants with a Modified Ligand for the Monomer Bacteriochlorophyll on the Active Side E. Katilius, J. L. Bever, S. Lin, N. W. Woodbury, Photosynthesis Research, 86:165-180 (2004)
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