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Volha U. Chukhutsina is a biophysicist specializing in optical spectroscopy, photosynthesis, and structural biology. With a strong background in protein structures and photoadaptation strategies, her research focuses on understanding the responses of photosynthesis to abiotic changes. After obtaining her MSc degree in physics from Belarusian State University, she moved to the Netherlands to pursue a PhD in biophysics. As a PhD student, she participated in the FP7 Marie Curie network 'HARVEST', working at the Laboratory of Biophysics at Wageningen University. Here she focused on describing photoprotection and photoadaptation strategies in marine algae and cyanobacteria using ultrafast time-resolved spectroscopy. Later, as a postdoctoral researcher in Roberta Croce's group, she developed a unique spectroscopic setup for non-invasive picosecond spectroscopy of photosynthetic samples. In November 2020, she was appointed as an Assistant Professor at VU Amsterdam's Department of Physics and Astronomy, where her research aims to investigate the light activation mechanisms of the Orange Carotenoid Protein using advanced spectroscopic techniques such as serial crystallography. Her work has significant implications for the understanding of human vision and the molecular dynamics during protein activation.
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam • Amsterdam, Netherlands
Conducting research in biophysics with a focus on photosynthesis and energy.
Administered under the Department of Clinical Psychology for Master's in Clinical and Developmental Psychopathology.