Inorganic Chemistry Seminar: Dr. Kelsey Sakimoto, Harvard University

Inorganic Chemistry Seminar: Dr. Kelsey Sakimoto, Harvard University (Host: Matt Kanan)

"The Bionic Microbe: Electronic upgrades for semi-artificial photosynthesis"

About the Seminar

As the Age of Oil wanes, petrochemical routes to produce food, fuels, fertilizers, materials, pharmaceuticals, and every other chemical under the sun require replacements. Combining the high solar energy efficiency of inorganic semiconductors with the vast biosynthetic repertoire of microorganisms offers a way to surpass the performance of purely biotic or purely abiotic synthetic routes, provided that we can navigate the seamless integration of the hard world of chemistry with the seemingly incompatible soft world of biology. In our first approach at this interface, we’ve explore newly designed/discovered “cyborg bacteria”: CO2-fixing microbes that biosynthesize semiconductor nanoparticles to self-photosensitize, enabling photosynthesis of food, fuels, polymers and pharmaceuticals at efficiencies that surpass those of natural photosynthesis. In our most recent approach, we look to the “bionic leaf”: a bioelectrochemical reactor that cultivates a wide range of wild-type and engineered microorganisms at 10× the solar-to-biomass efficiency of plants. Cultivation of N2-fixing, plant-beneficial soil bacteria in the bionic leaf produces a potent living biofertilizer derived from solar energy, air, and water to meet the needs of high-yielding modern sustainable agriculture.

About the Speaker

Kelsey K. Sakimoto received a BS in Chemical Engineering at Yale University and his PhD in Chemistry as an NSF Graduate Research Fellow at UC Berkeley working with Prof. Peidong Yang. He is currently a Harvard University Center for the Environment Fellow with a joint postdoctoral appointment in the Dept. of Chemistry & Chemical Biology with Prof. Daniel Nocera and in the Dept. of Systems Biology (Harvard Medical School) with Prof. Pamela Silver.