About Me:

I’m designing proteins for artificial photosynthesis with the long-term goal of producing renewable fuel. Natural photosynthetic antenna proteins harvest light energy using carefully-arranged assemblies of pigment molecules such as chlorophylls and carotenoids. I’ve designed and characterized a set of chlorophyll-binding proteins that can harvest light and transfer energy. I’m working to increase energy transfer efficiency by optimizing chlorophyll-chlorophyll distances and orientations to enable strong excitonic coupling that gives rise to coherent energy transfer.

ennist@uw.edu

Hometown:

Bethesda, Maryland