Autor: Alexander V. Ruban

Professor Alexander V. Ruban, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, UK. Professor Ruban is a Professor in Biophysics at Queen Mary University of London and holds a „Professeur des Universites (Biochimie et biologie moleculaire)“ title awarded by the French Ministry of Education. He obtained his Ph D at the Institute of Plant Physiology at the Academy of Sciences of the Ukraine. His research has been instrumental in the discovery of the molecular basis of photoprotection in LHCII and the in vivo configuration and dynamics of higher plant xanthophylls in the thylakoid membrane. The Ruban Lab at Queen Mary is engaged in mechanistic photosynthesis research with a multidisciplinary approach applies molecular spectroscopy, biophysics and biochemistry to important problems in plant physiology, specifically, the role of the various components (proteins, lipids, pigments) and macrostructure in the functions and adaptive mechanisms of the photosynthetic membrane related to light harvesting and photoprotection in plants and algae. In addition, professor Ruban is interested in the universal properties of carotenoids in biological membranes, the molecular dynamics of these molecules in the modulation of membrane protein conformation and their functions.