Congratulations to Dr Tatas Brotosudarmo who has just been awarded the prestigious Georg Forster Research Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany.
GeorgForster Research Fellowships allow scientists and scholars of all disciplines from developing countries and transition states to conduct a research project of relevance to the continuing development of their own countries together with an academic host at a research institution in Germany. Dr Tatas is a member of the Southeast Asia chapter of the Marie Curie Alumni Association.
EURAXESS ASEAN asked Dr Tatas about his plans.
Congratulations on this fantastic achievement! Can you share with us what your research project is all about?
My research project deals with the application of single molecule spectroscopy for characterisation of photosynthetic apparatus from brown algae.
Where in Germany will you carry out your research?
I will carry out my research at the laboratory of soft materials, chaired by Prof. Dr. Juergen Koehler, in the Department of Experimental Physics, at the University of Bayreuth.
How will this fellowship benefit you and the people in Indonesia/ASEAN?
Different types of brown algae in Indonesia represent the world’s biodiversity in marine species. Based on reports, Indonesia has about 134 species of eukaryotic brown algae. These species utilise the Sun energy in a unique way by having carotenoid, called fucoxanthin, as a major light absorbance material in their light harvesting apparatus. Here, I would like to employ Single Molecule Spectroscopy (SMS) to understand how Sunlight energy absorption and energy transfer occurs in a molecular scale in this unique light-harvesting system. SMS is currently a state of the art method for superresolution imaging microscopy. Based on single-molecule fluorescence, it provides at the same time the photophysical properties of the molecule. In the last decade, it has been used successfully to study biological processes, e.g. to observe HIV virus-cellular host interaction in membrane and to track viral infection into the cell, to visualise the action of a molecular machine like ATP synthase works in the cell, or to observe the dynamic movement of K+ channel gating in a lipid bilayer. Knowledge of SMS can impact Indonesia to further explore marine resources and its untapped potentials. The competence in SMS is a rare expertise among the scientists in Indonesia, and will have a strong impact for the continued development of education programs at higher academic institutions in Indonesia
Thank you!
Information about the funding opportunities of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation are available here.