Marina’s recent study on the protonation properties of bilin pigments, done in collaboration with the group of Greg Scholes in Princeton, in which she spent some months, has been selected on the 2018 PCCP Hot Articles, congratulations Marina!
In the study, we combine structure-based simulations and pH-dependent spectroscopic measures to clarify the role of protonation on the light harvesting properties of cryptophyte photosynthetic antennas. Our results strongly support the idea that bilin pigments are protonated in the range of pH 5-7 available in the lumen. You can read more here: Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2018, 20(33), 21404–21416
