Research
Research interests
My research interests fall within the umbrella term of Biophysics. As an undergrad student I started looking at the interaction between light and a particular type of molecule called tetrapyrroles. They are very common in nature. Haem, for instance, is a molecule that we all carry in our blood, and that we use to bind oxygen. Another well-known tetrapyrrole is chlorophyll, responsible for the green colour in plants. I did this at the Photobiophysik group led by Prof. Dr. Beate Röder in Berlin.
During my PhD research at the VU Amsterdam, and under the supervision of Dr. Ivo van Stokkum and Prof. Rienk van Grondelle, I dug deeper into the process of photosynthesis. I was particularly interested in how cyanobacteria do it, and how they protect themselves against too much light (aka photoprotection). I built mathematical models to describe photoprotection, shot laser light at photosynthetic cells at super low temperature, captured fluorescence light from living photosynthetic cells while illuminating them with LEDs, analysed tons of data and loads of other fun stuff!
Feel like reading more about any of it? Here a list of publications you may find interesting. Happy reading!