CV

Profile     KAKEN ORCID 
藤井写真 Name Ritsuko FUJII, Ph. D.
Title

Associate Professor
Affiliation Research Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (ReCAP), Osaka Metropolitan University, 3-3-138 Sugimoto, Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka 558-8585, Japan
E-Mail ritsuko*omu.ac.jp(*→@)
TEL 06-6605-3624

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Ritsuko Fujii's research interests focus on the excited- and ground-state structures and functions of photosynthetic pigments, i.e. carotenoids and chlorophylls. They play a crucial role in the primary energy- and electron-transfer processes in photosynthesis. Photosynthetic pigments do not contain rare elements and are composed only of abundant elements on Earth, but they achieve efficient photoreactions by binding to pigment-protein complexes. The structures of photosynthetic pigments in protein, including distortions and relative arrangements, control the primary process of photosynthesis.

KEY WORDS

Photosynthetic pigments, carotenoids, chlorophylls, pigment-protein complexes, purple photosynthetic bacteria, brown algae, siphonous green algae, ultrafast spectroscopies, fluorescence, absorption, Raman, 1H-NMR, cultivation of photosynthetic organisms, purification of pigments, HPLC analyses, mass spectrometry

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS (2012-2022)

  1. Soichiro Seki, Tetsuko Nakaniwa, Pablo Castro-Hartmann, Kasim Sader, Akihiko Kawamoto, Hideaki Tanaka, Pu Qian, Genji Kurisu, Ritsuko Fujii*, Structural insights into blue-green light utilization by marine green algal light harvesting complex II at 2.78 Å, BBA Advances, 2 (2022) 100064. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbadva.2022.100064
  2. Tatas Hardo Panintingjati Brotosudarmo, Bernd Wittmann, Soichiro Seki, Ritsuko Fujii*, and Jürgen Köhler*, Wavelength-Dependent Optical Response of Single Photosynthetic Antenna Complexes from Siphonous Green Alga Codium fragile, J. Phys. Chem. Lett., 13(23) (2022) 5226-5231. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.2c01160
  3. Soichiro Seki, Yumiko Yamano, Naohiro Oka, Yasuhiro Kamei, Ritsuko Fujii*, Discovery of a novel siphonaxanthin biosynthetic precursor in Codium fragile that accumulates only by exposure to blue-green light, FEBS Lett., 596 (12) (2022) 1544-1555. https://doi.org/10.1002/1873-3468.14357
  4. Nami Yamano, Tadashi Mizoguchi, and Ritsuko Fujii*, “The pH-dependent photophysical properties of chlorophyll-c bound to the light-harvesting complex from a diatom, Chaetoceros calcitrans”, J. Photochem. Photobiol. A: Chemistry, 358 (2018) 379-385. doi:10.1016/j.jphotochem.2017.09.047
  5. Ritsuko Fujii*, Nami Yamano, Hideki Hashimoto, Norihiko Misawa, and Kentaro Ifuku*, “Photoprotection vs. Photoinhibition of Photosystem II in Transplastomic Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) Dominantly Accumulating Astaxanthin”, Plant Cell Physiol., 58(7) (2016) 1518-1529. doi:10.1093/pcp/pcv187
  6. Chiasa Uragami, Denise Galzerano, Andrew Gall, Yusuke Shigematsu, Maïwen Meisterhans, Naohiro Oka, Masahiko Iha, Ritsuko Fujii, Bruno Robert, and Hideki Hashimoto, Light-Dependent Conformational Change of Neoxanthin in a Siphonous Green Alga, Codium intricatum, Revealed by Raman Spectroscopy, Photosynthesis Res., 121 (2014) DOI 10.1007/s11120-014-0011-y

EDUCATION

Ph. D in Science (Mar. 2001)

Dept. of Chem., Grad. Sch. Sci., Kwansei Gakuin University (KGU), Nishinomiya, Hyogo, Japan

(Doctoral course: Apr. 1996-Mar. 2001)

Dissertation title: ‘The Singlet-, Triplet- and Radical Cation-State Properties of Photosynthetic Carotenoids’

Supervisor: Late Prof. Yasushi Koyama (KGU)

MA in Chemistry  (Mar. 1996)

Dept. of Chem., Grad. Sch. Sci., KGU (Master course: Apr. 1994-Mar. 1996)

BA in Chemistry (Mar. 1994)

Dept. of Chem., Fac. Sci., KGU (Bachelor: Apr. 1990-Mar. 1994)

APPOINTMENTS/AFFILIATIONS

Research Fellow (Apr. 1998-Mar. 2001)

Apr. 1998-Mar. 2001: Research Fellowship for Young Scientist (DC2), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS).

Postdoctoral Fellow (Apr. 2001-Sep. 2010)

Apr. 2001-Mar. 2002: Research Fellowship for Young Scientist (PD), JSPS.

Apr. 2002-Dec. 2003: “Center of Studying Photo-Energy Conversion”, Dept. of Chem., Fac. of Sci., KGU.

Jan. 2004-Mar. 2006: New Industry Incubation Center, Osaka City Univ. (OCU), Osaka, Japan.

Apr. 2006-Sept. 2010*1: Dept. of Phys., Grad. Sch. Sci., OCU.

                                                                 *1Maternity leave (Oct. 2007-Mar. 2008)

Special-appointment Associate Professor (Oct. 2010-Mar. 2014)

Oct. 2010-Mar. 2014: The OCU Advanced Research Institute for Natural Science and Technology (OCARINA), OCU.

JST-PRESTO Researcher (Oct. 2011-Mar. 2016)

Oct. 2011-Mar. 2016*2: Japan Science and Technology Agency, Saitama, Japan

                                                                 *2Maternity leave (Oct. 2014-Mar. 2015)

Associate Professor (Apr. 2014-Current)

Apr. 2014-Mar. 2020*2: OCARINA, OCU.

Apr. 2020-Mar. 2022: Research Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (ReCAP), OCU.

Apr. 2022-current: ReCAP, Osaka Metropolitan Univ., Osaka, Japan

OTHERS

Committee Service

Local Organizing Committee for International Symposiums:

  • 15th International Symposium on Carotenoids (2008.6.22-27, Okinawa)
  • The 2013 OCARINA Annual International Symposium (2013.3.04-05, Osaka)
  • 7th OCARINA International Symposium in conjunction with Symposium in honor of Distinguished Professor Michael Nobel (2016.3.17-18, Osaka)
  • 8th OCARINA International Symposium (2017.3.7-8, Osaka)
  • 9th OCARINA International Symposium (2018.3.6-7, Osaka)
  • 10th OCARINA International Symposium (2019.3.5-6, Osaka)
  • The 57th Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society of Japan (2019.9.24-26, Miyazaki)

Editorial of Scientific Journal                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Carotenoid Science (ISSN 1880-5671) (2004-)