Prof. Nathan Nelson, Tel Aviv University, Israel

Host: Eva-Mari Aro

Prof Nathan Nelson has five decades experience from research and teaching. Nelson’s work has earned many awards, including:  The Humboldt Award and EMBO membership. 2011 Nelson was awarded a 5-year Advanced Grant from European Research Council (ERC).

Nathan Nelson’s research encompasses many topics involving membrane proteins and membrane protein complexes, among them: V-ATPase, neurotransmitter transporters, metal-ion transporters and complexes involved in the process of photosynthesis. Currently Nelson lab concentrates on the molecular mechanisms involved in transport and energy transduction. The five main subjects that we are currently engaged in are:

– Structure, function and molecular biology of photosystem I (PSI) and other membrane complexes in higher plant chloroplasts.
– Structure, function and molecular biology of cyanobacterial photosystem I.
– Crystal structure of photosystem I from the red algae Cyanidioschyzon merolae.
– Expression and structural determination of marine viruses-encoded membrane proteins.
– Harnessing Oxygenic Photosynthesis for Sustainable Energy Production.

Selected recent publications

Mazor Y, Borovikova A, Caspy I, Nelson N. (2017). Structure of the plant photosystem I supercomplex at 2.6 Å resolution. Nature Plants. 3:17014. doi: 10.1038/nplants.2017.14.

Mazor, Y., Borovikova, A. and Nelson N. (2015). The structure of plant photosystem I super-complex at 2.8 °A resolution.  eLife 2015;4:e07433. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.07433.

W Junge W, N Nelson, N. (2015) ATP synthase. Annual review of biochemistry 84, 631-657

Toporik, H., Carmeli, I., Volotsenko, I., Molotskii, M., Rosenwaks, Y., Carmeli C. and Nelson, N. (2012). Large Photovoltage Generated by Plant Photosystem I Crystals. Advanced Materials. 24, 2988-2991.

Ben-Shem A, Frolow F, Nelson N. (2003) Crystal structure of plant photosystem I. Nature 426 (6967), 630

The structure of a plant photosystem I supercomplex at 3.4 Å resolution. Amunts, A, Drory, O, Nelson, N. (2007) Nature 447 (7140), 58