Current Members

We are the Molecular Evolution Lab.

Tanai Cardona

Hello, I became interested in photosynthesis research when I was still a teenager and I consider myself very fortunate that today I am still investigating my favorite subject. I studied biology at Universidad de los Andes, in Bogotá, Colombia, and did my PhD at Uppsala University, in Sweden. After that I did a postdoc at the CEA-Saclay, in Paris, France, before moving to the UK, where I started my independent career at Imperial College London. Now, I’m a reader in Synthetic Biology and Biotechnology in the School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, atQueen Mary University of London.

Violeta Cordón Preciado

Violeta is a talented and experienced molecular biologist and biochemist, our Research Technician in charge of the Long-term Photosynthesis Evolution Experiments and our genomics pipeline! Violeta did her PhD at University of Salamanca, in Spain, with further training in scientific technical and medical translation. Violeta provides essential support to all our research activities.

Tom Dongmin Kim

Tom is a postdoctoral researcher in directed evolution. Tom completed his PhD at KU Leuven, in Belgium, applying directed evolution methods to a Bacillus system. Tom is developing a directed evolution pipeline to evolve Photosystem II complexes with altered functionality. Find him here.

Emma Chaloner

Emma completed her MSc at University of Edinburgh in Synthetic Biology, and is now a PhD student funded by an EPSRC DTP Studentship. Emma is designing photosystem I complexes fused with reductive dehalogenase or cytochrome P450 BM3, using a combination of rational design and directed evolution. Find her here.

Samantha Jenkins

Samantha completed her MScEng at Aalborg University in Denmark, before working in industry for a few years. She was awarded a Science and Solutions for a Changing Planet DTP studentship for a project co-supervised with Dr Anne Jungblut at the NHM. Samantha is studying adaptations to extreme Polar environments in cyanobacteria, using adaptive evolution methods on wild and model strains. Find her here.

Hannes Giovanazzi

Hannes completed his MSc in Applied Biosciences and Biotechnology at Imperial College London. He’s been awarded a QMUL’s Principla Scholarship and is currently working in developing our directed evolution methods applied to Photosystem II to engineer arsenic and alcohol oxidation biocatalysis. Find him here.

Hyeryeong Lee

Hyeryong completed her PhD at Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, working with immobilising enzymes to electrode systems. She is currently a Maria Skłodowska-Curie Actions postdoctoral fellow in a collaborative project between the lab of Dr Jenny Zhang at University of Cambridge and us. She’s creating chimeras of photosystem II fused with fluorescent proteins for biophotoelectrochemistry. Find her here.

Alumni

Postdocs

Dr. Joko P. Trinugroho (2021-2022). Site-saturation mutagenesis of cluster ligands in Photosystem II. Currently, an independent research at Indonesian Research Institution (National Research and Innovation Agency). Find him here.

PhD students

Dr. Thomas Oliver (2017-2022). Bioinformatic and bioenergetic studies on the evolution of Photosystem II. Currently, a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Prof. Roberta Croce at VU University Amsterdam. Find him here.

MRes and MSc students at Imperial College London

Joe Hartley (Molecular Plant and Microbial Science, 2022/2023). Engineering a Ru water-splitting cluster in Photosystem II using directed evolution; Francesca Levi (Applied Biosciences and Biotechnology, 2022. A Directed evolution approach to expanding the functional properties of Photosystem II; Zhang Puzhi (Molecular Plant and Microbial Science, 2020/2021) Rotation 1: Origin and evolution of the oxygen-dependent and oxygen-independent Mg-protoporphyrin IX monomethyl ester oxidative cyclases. Rotation 2: Altering the structural configuration of the Mn cluster of Photosystem II using random mutagensis of the ligand sphere; Kaija Walters (Biochemistry MRes sutdent in a remote internship from University of Heidelberg). Research project on characterizing the diversifiction of D1 variant forms using ancestral sequence reconstruction; Max Gray (Applied Applied Biosciences and Biotechnology, 2020). Research proposal project: Using directed evolution to improve the hydrogen production capabilities of a photosystem 1-hydrogenase chimera; Amber Connerton (Molecular Plant and Microbial Sciences, 2020). Ancestral sequence reconstruction of Photosystem I from Cyanobacteria: A cautionary tale; Yuxi Liang (Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, 2020). Timing the origin and early diversification of photosynthesis; Korawit Opassathian (Molecular Plant and Microbial Sciences, 2017). Investigating variant photosynthesis in cyanobacteria.

Undergraduate final-year projects and summer placements at Queen Mary University of London

Zohra Mehreen (2024) Directed evolution of Photosystem II for methanol and ethanol oxidation; Monique Bennett (2024) Expressing reductive dehalogenase and cytochrome P450 in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803.

Undergraduate final-year projects and summer placements at Imperial College London.

Theo Lupu, Jonah McDonald, Anita Jennings (2023) Evolution and diversity of photosystem II genes in viruses; Zachary Bawa (2022) Characterising an early branching cyanobacterium (Pseudanabaeba sp. PCC 6802), with insights into a molecular basis for multicellularity; Wenxin Li (2022) Directed evolution of Photosystem II to replace the Mn cluster with Ru; Nitara Wijayatilake (UROP thanks to a generous bursary from the Genetics Society, 2021) Random mutagenesis of the ligand sphere of the water-splitting cluster of Photosystem II D1 core subunit; Aaryan Bhatia (2021) Creating gene diversification libraries of the D1 subunit of Photosystem II; Isabelle Zhang (2021) Time-resolved evolution of type I photosynthetic reaction centres; Sunny Chen (2021) Tracing the evolution of photosynthetic gene clusters in anoxygenic bacteria through the perspective of macroevolution theories; Isabella Higson (2019) Re-evaluating the evolution of chlorophyll synthesis; Elisabeth Bavorová (2019) Investigating the evolution of photosystem II reaction centre–Was the ancestral enzyme capable of water oxidation?; Ivan Zheludev (2018) Ancestral sequence reconstruction of the D1 core subunit of Photosystem II; Jeffery So (2014) Type I reaction centre and bacteriochlorophyll g of the Heliobacteria; Morgan Valles (2013) The biochemical and biophysical characterization of Photosystem II in heterocysts of cyanobacteria Anabaena sp. PCC 7120; Alysha Shua (2013) Biochemical and biophysical characterisation of Photosystem I in heterocysts.