2026
2026
January 16-23
January 16-23
2026 GRS & GRC Metals in Biology
2026 GRS & GRC Metals in Biology
Erzsi and Moritz attended the GRS for Bioinorganic Chemistry at the Four Point Sheraton Hotel in Ventura, California. Erzsi and Moritz both gave talks about their research and also presented posters. Erzsi is also staying for the GRC where she continues sharing and showing her science project on a poster.
January 8-11
January 8-11
2026 Western Photosynthesis Conference
2026 Western Photosynthesis Conference
Group members attended the 2026 Western Photosynthesis Conference at the Green Mountain Retreat in Los Gatos, California. Natalie, Miao, Hiroki and Moritz gave a talk, Sophia, Isabela and Erzsi presented their work in form of a poster.
2025
2025
July 26 - August 1
July 26 - August 1
2025 GRC Photosynthesis
2025 GRC Photosynthesis
Group members attended the 2025 GRS and GRC for Photosynthesis at the Grand Summit Hotel at Sunday River, Maine. Jan gave a talk at GRC, while Hiroki, Miao, Vittal and Erzsi presented their work in form of a poster.
July 12-17
July 12-17
Experimentation at SLAC
Experimentation at SLAC
Time resolved crystallographic measurements were conducted at the LCLS facility at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in Stanford to study the structure and function of photosystem II. Additionally, we were also celebrating Hirokis birthday at the beamline in Stanford.
Happy Birthday Hiroki!
March 23-26
March 23-26
26th West Coast Structural Biology Workshop
26th West Coast Structural Biology Workshop
Group members attended the 2025 West Coast Structural Biology Workshop at the Asilomar Comference Ground at Pacific Grove, California. Junko gave a talk at GRC, while Natalie, Moritz and Erzsi presented their work in form of a poster.
January 31
January 31
Congratulations Vittal!
Congratulations Vittal!
Noted for his contributions to developing X-ray spectroscopy and femtosecond crystallography, Vittal was awarded an honorary doctorate at Uppsala University, Sweden. His lecture was held on January 29 at the Ångström Laboratory in Häggsalen and the Winter Conferment Ceremony was held on January 31 at the Grand Auditorium.
2024
2024
November 8
November 8
2024 Director's Award for Exceptional Achievement (Scientific)
2024 Director's Award for Exceptional Achievement (Scientific)
The group was recognized in the Scientific Achievement category of the 2024 Berkeley Lab Director's Award. We were cited for "extraordinary, trail-blazing team science to make seminal discoveries in the fundamental process of oxygenic photosynthesis found in plants, algae and cyanobacteria." Congratulations to the team!
October 18
October 18
Welcome to our new undergraduate researchers, Mika Zaman, Sophia Flagg, and Ethan Schein!
October 1
October 1
Congratulations Jan!
Congratulations Jan!
Congratulations to Jan on his promotion to Senior Scientist!
September 14
September 14
Graduation Party
Graduation Party
The group and their families gathered in Junko's garden to celebrate the graduation of Margaret, Liwen, Sasha, and Anthony, and Margaret and Liwen's acceptance of postdoctoral positions at Harvard University. Congratulations and best of luck in their future endeavors!
June 30 - July 5
June 30 - July 5
Congratulations Margaret!
Congratulations Margaret!
Margaret was one of the 27 highly accomplished young scientists selected to join Nobel laureates at the the 2024 Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in Germany.
June 2-6
June 2-6
Congratulations Moritz!
Congratulations Moritz!
Congratulations to Moritz Kretzschmar for receiving second prize for best presentation for his talk, "Time resolved XFEL structures of the intermediates of the ultrafast light reaction of photosystem I" at the 2nd North American Photosynthesis Congress in Atlanta.
May 1
May 1
Welcome to our new undergraduate researchers, Neil Suvarna and Jonathan Bright!
March 21
March 21
Group Dinner
Group Dinner
After many months of working hard and traveling for experimentation, the group gathered for a nice dinner together.
March 7
March 7
Congratulations Casey!
Congratulations Casey!
Congratulations to Casey Tsai for winning best poster at the BioXFEL Spring Symposium!
February 28 - March 5
February 28 - March 5
Experimentation at SwissFEL
Experimentation at SwissFEL
Time resolved X-ray spectroscopic measurements were conducted at the SwissFEL facility at the Paul-Scherrer-Institut to study the structure and function of photosystem II.
January 22
January 22
Experimentation at SLAC
Experimentation at SLAC
Time resolved X-ray spectroscopic measurements were conducted at the LCLS facility at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in Stanford to study the structure and function of photosystem II.
January 5-7
January 5-7
2024 Western Photosynthesis Conference
2024 Western Photosynthesis Conference
Group members attended the 2024 Western Photosynthesis Conference at the Biosphere 2 in Oracle, Arizona. Congratulations to Isabela Nangca for receiving the best poster award!
2023
2023
December 1
December 1
Official Group Name and Logo has been decided!
Official Group Name and Logo has been decided!
MBIB Director Junko presents the Creative Visionary Award for Best Group Name and Logo.
November 29
November 29
New Photobioreactor is in Operation!
New Photobioreactor is in Operation!
Isabela starts a new batch of cells for cultivation in the new 25-liter photobioreactor!
October 31-November 6
October 31-November 6
Experimentation at SACLA
Experimentation at SACLA
Time resolved X-ray spectroscopic measurements were conducted at the SACLA XFEL facility at Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute in Harima Science Garden City to better understand the early events of light-induced charge separation in photosynthetic reaction centers.
X-ray absorption spectroscopic measurements were also conducted to further study the Mn oxidation state changes in the Mn cluster in photosystem II.
October 27-November 1
October 27-November 1
Time resolved X-ray spectroscopic measurements were conducted at the LCLS facility at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in Stanford to study the ultrafast structural dynamics coupled to charge separation in photosynthetic reaction centers.
October 6-10
October 6-10
Experimentation at SLAC
Experimentation at SLAC
Time resolved X-ray spectroscopic measurements were conducted at the LCLS facility at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in Stanford to study the structure and function of photosystem II.
September 24-29
September 24-29
2023 SSRL/LCLS Users’ Meeting
2023 SSRL/LCLS Users’ Meeting
Group attended the 2023 SSRL/LCLS Users' Meeting at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in Stanford. Congratulations to Moritz Kretzschmar for receiving the BioXFEL Outstanding Poster Award and to Angel Esparza for the SSRL William E. and Diane M. Spicer Young Investigator Award!
August 23
August 23
Congratulations Junko!
Congratulations Junko!
Congratulations to Junko for being appointed as the Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging Division Director!
July 8
July 8
Graduation Party
Graduation Party
The group and their families gathered in Junko's garden to celebrate the graduation of Isabel, Christina, and Tommaso and Isabel's acceptance of associate consultant position at McKinsey & Company. Congratulations and best of luck in their future endeavors!
May 3
May 3
2023 MBIB Annual Meeting
2023 MBIB Annual Meeting
Group attended the 2023 MBIB Annual Meeting. Several members presented a poster about their respective projects.
May 2, 2023
May 2, 2023
Congratulations Margaret!
Congratulations Margaret!
Congratulations to Margaret for passing her PhD qualifying exam!
April 28-30
April 28-30
2023 Western Photosynthesis Conference
2023 Western Photosynthesis Conference
Group attended the 2023 Western Photosynthesis Conference at UC Davis' Coastal and Marine Sciences Institute in Bodega Bay. Congratulations to Asmit Bhowmick for receiving the best talk award and to Stephen Keable for the best poster award!
2022
2022
July 25
July 25
Photosynthesis research goes online
Photosynthesis research goes online
Jan is featured in A Day in the Half-Life podcast episode, "Green Machines: The natural and artificial photosynthesis powering the planet," with a UC Berkeley adjunct professor, Joel Ager.
Past Events
Past Events
May 7 2022
Baby Shower Alert! Soyoung is celebrating her Baby Shower with family, friends and of course the ECaP lab.
April 4 2022
There is always time for cake! Although everyone is busy with beamtime at SLAC measuring PSII we took a break to celebrate Philipp's birthday. Happy Birthday Philipp!!!
Oct 22-23 2021
Hiroki, Isabel and Moritz attended the 47th Midwest/Southeast Photosysnthesis Conference in Turkey Run State Park (IN). Moritz gave a talk and all three of them presented a poster.
July 1-5 2021
Time resolved crystallographic measurements were conducted at the LCLS facility at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in Stanford to study the structure and function of photosystem II.
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