פוטוסינתזה
פוטוסינתזה עיצבה את העולם כפי שאנו מכירים אותו כיום, עם השפעות מרחיקות לכת על האקלים, התזונה ומשאבי האנרגיה הזמינים לרשותנו.
על אף יותר ממאה שנות מחקר פוטוסינתזה, אנו רק מתחילים לגרד את קצה הקרחון של פוטנציאל הידע שנצבר לאבטחת עתיד משק המזון והאנרגיה העולמי, תוך שימת דגש על שיפור תהליכי קציר האור, המרת אנרגיה, קליטת פחמן וקיבועו, והשקעה אופטימלית של השקעת התוצרים הפוטוסינטטיים.
בבית הספר חוקרים תחומים אלה בכלים שונים ובהם חקר הפיסיולוגיה והביולוגיה המולקולרית של תאים פוטוסינטטיים.
Photosynthesis
Photosynthesis shaped much of the world as we know it, driving our climate, nutrition and energy resources.
Despite over a century of photosynthesis research, we are currently just starting to scratch the surface of its vast potential to secure future global demand for feed and energy, with current efforts targeting light harvesting, light energy conversion, carbon uptake and conversion, and photosynthate investment for improvement.
These aspects and others are studied in our school at various levels including physiology, molecular and systems biology of photosynthetic cells.
Researchers in this field:
Prof. Iftach Yacoby
We study how to store green energy as hydrogen gas. For that aim we study energy transfer in photosynthesis and use synthetic biology to engineer microalgae for the purposes of producing fuels such as hydrogen gas and valuable materials. We also combine nanotechnology as a framework to stabilize energy converting enzymes such as hydrogenase (hydrogen producers). In our research we use advanced chemical and physical methods to analyze the kinetics of gases in solutions, we apply mass spectrometry and gas chromatography. We also use super-fast spectroscopical methods including laser excitation to study natural and engineered photosynthetic microalgae. We perform anaerobic protein isolation and purification, membrane proteins research and construct and design of photobioreactors for scaling up hydrogen and biomass production.
Lab Website: www.energylabtau.com
Dr. Nir Sade
My lab research is focused on important agricultural traits which are highly effected by abiotic stress such as water movement (hydraulics), water use efficiency, root morphology and carbon/nitrogen allocation. In my lab, efforts are underway, to both discover the genes that regulate those traits as well as to generate crops with better tolerance to harsh conditions. In addition to common molecular and biochemical tools, we use advanced systems for phenotypic characterization of crop plants, including pressure cells, lysimeter systems, systems for measuring gas exchange, and hyperspectral cameras.
Lab Website: https://nirsade1978.wixsite.com/nirsadelab
Dr. Haim Treves
Our lab overreaching aim is to gain deep systems-level understanding of photosynthetic metabolism in algae, and the role it plays in stirring photosynthesis efficiency and growth. To address these goals, we apply a set of tools, including state-of-the-art flux-metabolomics, modeling, molecular biology and physiology. We also have online monitoring based algal growth systems, perform metabolic profiling of photosynthetic metabolism, and 13C-labelling of photosynthetic cultures and plants.
Lab Website: www.treveslab.com
