The Centre sought to answer some of the fundamental questions about the most important biological process on Earth: photosynthesis.   These questions were:

  • How to manipulate the fundamental photosynthetic properties of plants which determine light, water and nitrogen-use efficiency.

  • How to alter the molecular properties and function of the primary CO2 fixing enzyme, Rubisco.

  • Gaining fundamental insights into how to change the properties of light harvesting in plants and algae to increase light harvesting efficiency and broaden the action spectrum.

  • How to harness the power of modern plant phenomics, genome sequencing and modern plant breeding to identify improved photosynthetic traits and their underlying genetic determinants.

  • Developing biologically-based computational approaches to devise new strategies for achieving improved photosynthesis and growth.

Here are some research highlights for each of our four interlinked programs:

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Improving leaf CO2 capture efficiency

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Improving light energy capture efficiency

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Exploiting photosynthetic variation

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Linking leaf function and the field performance of crops

Our Researchers

The Centre brought together internationally recognised researchers in areas of photosynthesis including photosynthetic CO2 fixation, thylakoid electron transport, light harvesting, photosynthetic water and nitrogen-use efficiency, stomatal biology, photosynthetic modelling, plant phenomics, crop growth modelling and plant improvement.