Jenny completed her PhD in bioinorganic chemistry at the University of Sydney, Australia, with a brief stint at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where she developed redox active platinum-based anti-cancer agents and studied their biodistribtion/metabolism within tumour models. She then became a Marie Curie Incoming International Fellow at the University of Cambridge to explore how biocatalysts can be exploited to generate solar fuels. In particular, she worked on developing strategies to re-wire oxidoreductases, such as the water-oxidation enzyme photosystem II, to electrodes/semiconductors/other proteins in an emerging field known as 'semi-artificial photosynthesis'. She has since been awarded a BBSRC David Phillips Fellowship at the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry. Here, she takes on the re-wiring of photosynthesis to another level of complexity - in live cells! She has recently been awarded the RSC Felix Franks Biotechnology Medal for her research work.

Semi-artificial photosynthesis, (photo)electrochemistry, chemical biology, materials chemistry, 3D-printing, biofilm chemistry Current research Our goal is to develop smart bio-hybrid approaches that can serve as tools to understand complex biological systems and as a platform to launch new biotechnologies to address a range of societal needs (including for renewable energy generation, carbon capture, precision farming, environmental sensing, and medicine). Currently, we are focused on re-wiring photosynthesis for sustainable photo-energy conversion. We work at the intersection of many disciplines, including physics, synthetic biology, chemical biology, engineering and material science; however, at the heart of our work is electrochemistry. Towards our goal, one of our main interests is in the unraveling of natural photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is the primary route by which solar energy is harnessed on Earth (it is responsible for sustaining 99% of this planet's ecosystems), and key in regulating our planet's carbon, nitrogen and oxygen cycles. Despite its importance, there remain significant knowledge gaps in the redox chemistry and electron transport pathways within photosynthesis. Moreover, photosynthetic organisms have evolved impressive and sustainable mechanisms for converting Earth abundant resources (sunlight, carbon dioxide and water) into complex organic matter. As such, scientists of all disciplines are trying to understand and exploit their complex chemistry to benefit agriculture, the environment, and to provide clean energy.

3D-printed hierarchical pillar array electrodes for high-performance semi-artificial photosynthesis X Chen, JM Lawrence, LT Wey, L Schertel, Q Jing, S Vignolini, CJ Howe, S Kar-Narayan, JZ Zhang – Nature materials (2022) 1 (DOI: 10.1038/s41563-022-01205-5) A biophotoelectrochemical approach to unravelling the role of cyanobacterial cell structures in exoelectrogenesis LT Wey, JM Lawrence, X Chen, R Clark, DJ Lea-Smith, JZ Zhang, CJ Howe – Electrochimica Acta (2021) 395, 139214 (DOI: 10.1016/j.electacta.2021.139214) Phenazines as model low-midpoint potential electron shuttles for photosynthetic bioelectrochemical systems. ER Clifford, RW Bradley, LT Wey, JM Lawrence, X Chen, CJ Howe, JZ Zhang – Chemical Science (2021) 12, 3328 (DOI: 10.1039/d0sc05655c) Author Correction: Advancing photosystem II photoelectrochemistry for semi-artificial photosynthesis (Nature Reviews Chemistry, (2020), 4, 1, (6-21), 10.1038/s41570-019-0149-4) JZ Zhang, E Reisner – Nature Reviews Chemistry (2020) 4, 381 (DOI: 10.1038/s41570-020-0193-0) Advancing photosystem II photoelectrochemistry for semi-artificial photosynthesis JZ Zhang, E Reisner – Nature Reviews Chemistry (2019) 4, 6 (DOI: 10.1038/s41570-019-0149-4) The Development of Biophotovoltaic Systems for Power Generation and Biological Analysis LT Wey, P Bombelli, X Chen, JM Lawrence, CM Rabideau, SJL Rowden, JZ Zhang, CJ Howe – ChemElectroChem (2019) 6, 5375 (DOI: 10.1002/celc.201900997) Advancing Techniques for Investigating the Enzyme-Electrode Interface. N Kornienko, KH Ly, WE Robinson, N Heidary, JZ Zhang, E Reisner – Accounts of chemical research (2019) 52, 1439 (DOI: 10.1021/acs.accounts.9b00087) Structure–Activity Relationships of Hierarchical Three-Dimensional Electrodes with Photosystem II for Semiartificial Photosynthesis E Reisner, X Fang, KP Sokol, N Heidary, TA Kandiel, JZ Zhang – Nano Lett (2019) 19, 1844 (DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.8b04935) Oxygenic Photoreactivity in Photosystem II Studied by Rotating Ring Disk Electrochemistry. N Kornienko, JZ Zhang, KP Sokol, S Lamaison, A Fantuzzi, R van Grondelle, AW Rutherford, E Reisner – Journal of the American Chemical Society (2018) 140, 17923 (DOI: 10.1021/jacs.8b08784) Modulating the Cellular Uptake of Fluorescently Tagged Substrates of Prostate-Specific Antigen before and after Enzymatic Activation. L Di Marco, JZ Zhang, J Doan, BJ Kim, N Yamamoto, NS Bryce, TW Hambley – Bioconjug Chem (2018) 30, 124 (DOI: 10.1021/acs.bioconjchem.8b00792) Bias-free photoelectrochemical water splitting with photosystem II on a dye-sensitized photoanode wired to hydrogenase KP Sokol, WE Robinson, J Warnan, N Kornienko, MM Nowaczyk, A Ruff, JZ Zhang, E Reisner – Nature Energy (2018) 3, 944 (DOI: 10.1038/s41560-018-0232-y) Interfacing nature's catalytic machinery with synthetic materials for semi-artificial photosynthesis N Kornienko, JZ Zhang, KK Sakimoto, P Yang, E Reisner – Nature nanotechnology (2018) 13, 890 (DOI: 10.1038/s41565-018-0251-7) Solar Water Splitting with a Hydrogenase Integrated in Photoelectrochemical Tandem Cells DH Nam, JZ Zhang, V Andrei, N Kornienko, N Heidary, A Wagner, K Nakanishi, KP Sokol, B Slater, I Zebger, S Hofmann, JC Fontecilla‐Camps, CB Park, E Reisner – Angewandte Chemie (2018) 130, 10755 (DOI: 10.1002/ange.201805027) Photoelectrochemistry of photosystem II in vitro vs. in vivo JZ Zhang, P Bombelli, KP Sokol, A Fantuzzi, AW Rutherford, CJ Howe, E Reisner – J Am Chem Soc (2017) 140, 6 (DOI: 10.1021/jacs.7b08563) Photoelectrocatalytic H2 evolution in water with molecular catalysts immobilised on p-Si via a stabilising mesoporous TiO2 interlayer E Reisner, J Leung, J Warnan, D Nam, J Zhang, J Willkomm – Chemical Science (2017) 8, 5172 (DOI: 10.1039/c7sc01277b) Competing charge transfer pathways at the photosystem II–electrode interface JZ Zhang, KP Sokol, N Paul, E Romero, R van Grondelle, E Reisner – Nat Chem Biol (2016) 12, 1046 (DOI: 10.1038/NCHEMBIO.2192) Rational wiring of photosystem II to hierarchical indium tin oxide electrodes using redox polymers KP Sokol, D Mersch, V Hartmann, JZ Zhang, MM Nowaczyk, M Rögner, A Ruff, W Schuhmann, N Plumeré, E Reisner – Energy & Environmental Science (2016) 9, 3698 (DOI: 10.1039/c6ee01363e) Wiring of Photosystem II to Hydrogenase for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting D Mersch, C-Y Lee, JZ Zhang, K Brinkert, JC Fontecilla-Camps, AW Rutherford, E Reisner – J Am Chem Soc (2015) 137, 8541 (DOI: 10.1021/jacs.5b03737) A Si photocathode protected and activated with a Ti and Ni composite film for solar hydrogen production Y-H Lai, HS Park, JZ Zhang, PD Matthews, DS Wright, E Reisner – Chemistry (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) (2015) 21, 3919 (DOI: 10.1002/chem.201406566)