Maya Dimova Lambreva Personal Page

The research is focused on unraveling the correlation between structure and functionality of pigment-protein complexes involved in light transduction and conversion reactions of photosynthesis, using mutants of the model green algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. The ultimate goal of the research has been to design, produce and characterize appositely modified strains to be exploited as life-regenerative supporting system in manned space missions, robust and sensitive sensing elements in development of biosensors for food and environmental monitoring, and for production of high added-value compounds for nutraceutical applications. The research includes also studies to elucidate the mechanisms of interaction of photosynthetic apparatus with carbon-based nanomaterials, and the relationship between the nanomaterials’ properties and their biological behavior.

Keywords: plant physiology and biochemistry, chlorophyll a fluorescence induction and quenching analyses, photosynthetic gas-exchange in liquid and gas phase, antioxidant enzymes and oxidative-stress correlated markers, carbon-based nanomaterials

Research sector: ERC Sector LS, Life Science, LS9 Applied life sciences and biotechnology

Research Interests:

• Function and organization of photosynthetic apparatus – biophysical and biochemical aspects. Photosystem II electron transport efficiency.
• Environmental stress. Plant response to environmental factors and mechanisms of adaptation and acclimation: i) photoinhibition under low and high temperatures; ii) acclimation of photosynthesis to elevated CO₂ concentration, photochemical and non-photochemical processes; iii) photosynthetic response to space ionizing radiation; iv) interaction of photosynthetic functions with herbicides, heavy metals and nanomaterials.
• Applied research: i) design, characterization and application of photosynthetic organisms in biosensoristic, nutraceutical and space fields; ii) electrochemical and optical bio-recognition of toxic compounds driven by Photosystem II-based biosensors; iii) material-based applications in algal nanobiotechnology