Metabolic engineering of cyanobacteria for the production of hydrogen from water
Dr Matthias Rögner, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany
Chair: Prof Peter Nixon, Division of Biology
Abstract: The solar-driven production of hydrogen fuel has tremendous potential as a future renewable energy source since the substrate, water, and the energy source, sunlight, are virtually unlimited. Cyanobacteria, which perform oxygenic photosynthesis, can under certain conditions produce hydrogen using electrons extracted from water. Our goal is to improve the efficiency of hydrogen generation at the expense of biomass production. I will describe current progress in re-engineering photosynthesis and metabolism including reduction of the size of the light-harvesting antenna, partial uncoupling of the thylakoid membrane and rewiring of photosynthetic electron transfer. I will also describe the design of improved photobioreactors for mass cultivation of cyanobacteria and the development of semi-artificial systems or ‘biobatteries’.
Esper, B., Badura, A. & Rögner, M. (2006) Photosynthesis as a power supply for (bio-)hydrogen production; Trends in Plant Sci. 11, 543-549
Biography of speaker: Matthias Rögner is Professor of Plant Biochemistry in the Faculty of Biology at the Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany and has published over 130 papers in the areas of natural and applied photosynthesis. His current research interests include: Primary processes of Photosynthesis with cyanobacteria as model systems; Biotechnological application of the photosynthetic water-splitting process by combination with Hydrogen-producing modules in natural “design cells” or in semi-artificial systems (“Biobattery”); Development and application of a new generation of Photobioreactors for the cheap mass cultivation of cyanobacteria as “living catalysts” for future sun-powered Hydrogen production from water and sunlight; Development of mass-spectrometry methods for monitoring the whole-cell dynamics of the proteome from wild-type & “design” cells.
No registration required
Drinks provided after seminar
Contact: Peter Nixon, p.nixon@imperial.ac.uk