Wednesday May 1st, McMaster Innovation Park Room AB, 175 Longwood Road South.
7.00pm Doors Open and Light Refreshments. 7.30pm Lecture.
Abstract: Photosynthesis is a vital step in the evolution of life that occurred very early in Earth’s evolutionary history. Our own origins-related work in organic chemistry has been aimed at understanding how the porphyrin pigments underlying photosynthesis could originate at the time of the origin of life. We also study the genomes of cyanobacteria in order to understand how photosynthesis has continued to evolve in modern organisms, and we develop practical applications of porphyrins for capturing light in medicine (e.g. cancer detection).