Linking of two fields - core objective of SOLAR-H
Besides the scientific goals, SOLAR-H has the purpose to link the two fields, photochemical water oxidation (artificial photosynthesis) and photo-biological hydrogen production. Both fields benefit from each other. The bio-mimetic chemistry can only be developed if the synthetic chemists can incorporate the continuous advances from biochemistry and biophysics. Today, the latter are totally dependent on the genetic advances and with the advent of bio-informatics the former borderlines between molecular biology, biochemistry and biophysics are vanishing and provide fruitful fields to work in. In SOLAR-H the organisms will be improved and developed by combined efforts from geneticists and physiologists applying modern molecular biology approaches. Molecular questions on what happens to the large redox enzymes (photosynthetic reaction centers and hydrogenases) in the modified organisms can only be solved by the combined efforts of biophysicists and biochemists.