Photochemistry in Biological Systems
Life as we know it is only possible out of thermodynamical equilibrium. The sun is the earth's only external energy source and supplies photoautotrophic organisms to exist outside equilibrium. While non-photoautotrophic organisms mostly use light indirectly as an energy source, they can be tremendously affected by photon radiation. In our group we study several photoinduced processes in biological systems, namely the photosysnthesis in Photosystem I, the resilience of our genome against photodamage and light driven reactions in biosynthesis. These studies are challenging due to complex environments and their sheer size. Furthermore, the balance between accuracy and computational cost is a primary focus when working with these systems. Thus we employ methods and approaches to bridge the spatial and temporal scales, like molecular dynamics (MD), hybrid quantum mechanics and molecular mechanics (QM/MM), and quantum dynamics (QD). Or in other words: We utilize nearly the whole toolbox of computational chemistry. Research Highlights
Atomistic Characterization of the Tuning Mechanisms for Chlorophyll Excitation Energies in Photosystem 1
Symposium of Theoretical Chemistry (STC) 2021, Würzburg 
On the Energy Transfer in Photosystem I and Photoreactive Chlorophyll Clusters
Symposium of Theoretical Chemistry (STC) 2021, Würzburg Key Publications
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