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Design And Optimization Of A De Novo Protein Charge Separation Dyad, Andrew C. Mutter

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The ever-increasing demand for cheap, plentiful energy to fuel the needs of a growing population requires research into alternative clean energy. Solar irradiation has the potential to power the planet many times over; the challenge is efficient capture and conversion of this energy source. Nature has already solved this problem with photosynthesis, which harvests solar irradiation converting it to stored chemical energy and is the source of the energy for life. The goal of my dissertation is to use de novo designed protein to mimic the charge separation system in photosynthesis. A stable protein scaffold will be designed and used …