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Harvey Hou
Assistant Professor, Chemistry & Biochemistry
| Research Interests |
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Project 1. Structural and Mechanistic Studies of Mn-oxo and Co-based Water-splitting Catalysts in Solar Energy Conversion
The long-term goal of Dr. Hou's group is to study the mechanisms of energy conversion in photosynthesis and to develop new technologies in renewable energy production. Recently we observed the formation of novel Mn-containing water splitting catalysts, and Nocera's group discovered Co-based water oxidation material. The project is (a) to synthesize and characterize the Mn-containing catalysts and (b) to probe the structure and mechanisms of the Co-based catalyst in water oxidation chemistry. Project 2. Molecular Mechanisms of American Cranberries Against Environmental Stress The environmental factors play important roles in the future of agriculture productivity and sustainability. In cranberry industry the yellow vine syndrome is often observed; however, the mechanism for developing the syndrome is unknown. Our goal is to investigate the mechanisms for producing the syndrome by analytical and bioanalytical methods and hopefully come up with a strategy to solve the problem. Project 3. Photoacoustic Studies of Photobiological Reactions In contrast to the kinetics of electron transfer in photobiological reactions, the thermodynamics of these reactions is equally important but less known. We are interested in understanding the thermodynamics of electron transfer in the photosynthetic electron transfer mutants and of photoreactions in native and site-directed mutant rhodopsins by pulsed time-resolved photoacoustics. Project 4. Structure and Function of G Protein-coupled Receptors Today more than 70% of the market drugs are targeted to G protein-coupled receptors. The key step of the G protein-coupled receptor glucagon receptor activation is the binding of its long N-terminal domain with hormone glucagon. We focus on the structural analysis of the glucagon receptor binding by a combination of molecular genetics and biophysics. |
| Keywords |
| Biochemistry , Plant Biology , Biophysics , Bioanalytical Chemistry , Renewable Energy and Photosynthesis , Environmental Stress , G Protein-Coupled Receptors |
| Teaching Interests |
| General Chemistry , Introduction to Analytical Chemsitry , Modern Methods of Chemical Analysis , Quantitiative Analysis , Bioanalytical Chemistry |
