Min Chen (biologist)

Min Chen is an eminent Australian plant physiologist. She was born in China and educated in Northeast Normal University China - BSc in 1984 and MSc in 1987 and received her PhD in 2003 from The University of Sydney Australia. She is a Full Professor and Australian Research Council 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 organisms, especially the function of novel photopigments in oxygenic photosynthetic bacteria.

Min Chen
Photo taken at Sydney University Wikibomb 2014
Born1963 (age 57–58)
China
EducationNortheast Normal University (BSc, & MSc)
University of Sydney (Ph.D.)
Alma materUniversity of Sydney
Known forchlorophyll f
Scientific career
FieldsBiology
InstitutionsUniversity of Sydney
WebsiteUniversity of Sydney page

Research

Her research found that chlorophyll f has an absorption maximum at 706 nm in vitro, which suggests that oxygenic photosynthesis can be extended even further into the infrared region, which may open up associated bioenergy applications. Red-shifted chlorophylls could be used extend light capture in crop plants.[1] Chen is the University of Sydney node leader of Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis.[2] The function of Chlorophyll f in photosynthetic reactions is uncertain and the ecological distribution of chlorophyll f remains unknown.[3]

Awards

In October 2011, Chen was awarded the Science Minister’s Prize for Life Scientist of the Year,[4] for her role in discovering a new form of chlorophyll, called chlorophyll f.[5] In 2013 she was recipient of the Robin Hill Award of the International Society for Photosynthesis Research[6] and in the same year awarded the Peter Goldacre Award by the Australian Society of Plant Scientists.[7]

References
  1. Burdick, Alan (23 November 2010). "Power Plants". OnEarth. National Resources Defense Council.
  2. "Chief Investigators & Partner Investigators". Translational Photosynthesis. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
  3. Chen, Min; Schliep, Martin; Willows, Robert D.; Cai, Zheng-Li; Neilan, Brett A.; Scheer, Hugo (2010). "A Red-Shifted Chlorophyll: Fig. 1". Science. 329 (5997): 1318–1319. doi:10.1126/science.1191127. PMID 20724585.
  4. 2011 Science Minister's Prize for Life Scientist of the Year Archived 2012-02-29 at the Wayback Machine
  5. "Australian scientists discover first new chlorophyll in 60 years". Woodside, United States: Xinhua News Agency. 20 August 2010.
  6. "Awards presented at PS16, St Louis - August 2013". International Society of Photosynthesis Research. Archived from the original on 2018-11-07. Retrieved 2014-10-31.
  7. "Peter Goldacre Award". Australian Society of Plant Scientists.

Further reading
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