Ultrafast Dynamics of Complex Systems in Biology and Materials

Abstract

The dynamics of complex system in biology and materials usually contain many elementary processes. To resolve their detailed evolution and determine their actual timescales, we need to combine various state-of-the-art methods to dissect those processes. Here, the speaker and his research group used femtosecond spectroscopy, molecular biology and ultrafast electron microscopy to map out their entire dynamics. They report several complex systems in biology and materials such as DNA repair by photoenzyme, dimer dissociation of photoreceptor UVR8 and nanomaterial dynamics. These results reveal their significant complexity and the high spatiotemporal study is a necessity to completely reveal their dynamics and mechanisms at the most fundamental level.

About the Speaker

Prof. ZHONG Dongping received his BS in Laser Physics from Huazhong University of Science and Technology and his PhD in Chemistry from the California Institute of Technology in 1999. For his PhD work, he received the Herbert Newby McCoy Award and the Milton and Francis Clauser Doctoral Prize from Caltech. He continued his postdoctoral research with a focus on protein dynamics. He joined the Ohio State University in 2002 and became Robert Smith Professor of Physics and Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry in 2010. In 2023, he returned to China and joined Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He is currently the Chun Shen Chair Professor of Chemistry there.

Prof. Zhong’s research interests include biomolecular interactions and ultrafast protein/enzyme dynamics. He has built a Center for Ultrafast Science and Technology with focus on complex dynamics in materials and biology using ultrafast photons and electrons at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He has also been the Editor of Chemical Physics and on the advisory board of the Journal of Physical Chemistry, Science China, and Chemical Physics Letters.

Prof. Zhong is the Packard Fellow, Sloan Fellow, American Physical Society Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow, as well as the recipient of the NSF CAREER Award and the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award.

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