We are developing biohybrid systems that merge microorganisms with light-absorbing materials to sustainably convert COâ‚‚ or water into useful chemicals and fuels using sunlight.
🔹 Harnessing microbial electrosynthesis for green chemicals
Microbial electrosynthesis uses microbes—or these hybrid microbes—with electricity or light to reduce CO₂ into valuable organic acids. Our biohybrid approach integrates efficient light capture with microbial metabolism, offering a sustainable route to produce chemicals and fuels from waste CO₂ and renewable energy.
Microbial electrosynthesis uses microbes—or these hybrid microbes—with electricity or light to reduce CO₂ into valuable organic acids. Our biohybrid approach integrates efficient light capture with microbial metabolism, offering a sustainable route to produce chemicals and fuels from waste CO₂ and renewable energy.
🔹 Defining electron pathways in light-powered biohybrids
We created a well-defined biohybrid by covalently linking nitrogen-doped carbon dots (CDs) to a modified decaheme protein (MtrC) from Shewanella oneidensis. By attaching CDs at a single cysteine residue on MtrC, we established a clear route for light-driven electrons to move from the CD into the protein’s heme chain. Under illumination with a sacrificial electron donor, the heme sites became reduced—demonstrating controlled, photo-triggered electron flow essential for efficient light-powered biocatalysis.
We created a well-defined biohybrid by covalently linking nitrogen-doped carbon dots (CDs) to a modified decaheme protein (MtrC) from Shewanella oneidensis. By attaching CDs at a single cysteine residue on MtrC, we established a clear route for light-driven electrons to move from the CD into the protein’s heme chain. Under illumination with a sacrificial electron donor, the heme sites became reduced—demonstrating controlled, photo-triggered electron flow essential for efficient light-powered biocatalysis.
🔹 Coupling light harvesters to biocatalytic proteins
We developed two scalable chemical methods to link carbon-dot light harvesters onto decaheme proteins. Detailed characterization by electrophoresis, chromatography, fluorescence spectroscopy and microscopy confirmed robust attachment. The resulting biohybrids showed deep-protein, light-induced electron transfer—laying the groundwork for modular assembly of diverse photo-biocatalysts.
We developed two scalable chemical methods to link carbon-dot light harvesters onto decaheme proteins. Detailed characterization by electrophoresis, chromatography, fluorescence spectroscopy and microscopy confirmed robust attachment. The resulting biohybrids showed deep-protein, light-induced electron transfer—laying the groundwork for modular assembly of diverse photo-biocatalysts.
Why it matters:
🌱 Clean and sustainable: Uses sunlight and CO₂ instead of fossil fuels to power chemical synthesis.
🌱 Mechanistically defined: Establishes controlled electron transfer paths for predictable performance.
🌱 Modular and adaptable: Supports scalable, mix-and-match design of light-powered biocatalytic systems.