Vasco Giovagnetti: Plant Physiology First Author

Vasco Giovagnetti, first author of “Biochemical and molecular properties of LHCX1, the essential regulator of dynamic photoprotection in diatoms”

Current Position: Postdoctoral Researcher at Queen Mary University of London (UK)

Education: BSc and MSc in Marine Biology (Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy), PhD in Marine Sciences and Engineering (Università degli Studi di Napoli and Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Napoli, Italy)

Non-scientific Interests: Music

Brief bio: My interest in photosynthesis and its regulation started in the Laboratory of Prof Mario Giordano, while doing my BSc and MSc in Marine Biology. Then, I moved to Naples and obtained the PhD under the supervision of Dr Christophe Brunet at the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, investigating the ecophysiology of microalgae and their adaptation to marine ecosystems. The PhD journey sparked my interest to better understand light-harvesting regulation and photoprotection in photosynthetic organisms. That’s when I joined Prof Alexander Ruban’s group at Queen Mary University (London, UK) – where I am currently based – to address fundamental, regulatory processes of photosynthesis. Here, my research focuses on the molecular mechanisms underlying the dynamic and efficient regulation of light harvesting in photosynthetic membranes.