CAT-PHOTO: Creating Photoenzymes by computational design and directed evolution

• Applicant: Dr. Adrian Bunzel
• Subject Area: Biochemistry
• Term: since 2026
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 582263729

The energy and climate crisis requires the development of more sustainable energy sources. Solar energy is abundant, but silicon solar cells have reached an efficiency plateau and rely on materials with a significant ecological footprint. CAT-PHOTO pursues a nature-inspired strategy that draws on the high quantum efficiency of biological light harvesting. Because natural photosynthetic proteins are typically complex and fragile, we will create novel light-harvesting enzymes by computational protein design and directed evolution. Over the next three years, we will generate photoenzymes by designing photosensitizer binding pockets into existing protein scaffolds and by enhancing photovoltaic activity through directed evolution. The resulting photoenzymes may be directly integrated into existing dye-sensitized solar-cell technologies, and we will benchmark the most active variants in prototype devices. CAT-PHOTO will identify photobiocatalytic features that promote light capture and electron transfer, thereby providing design principles for photoenzymes. By demonstrating how computational design and directed evolution can be combined to build and optimize complex photochemical functions, CAT-PHOTO will lay the foundation for future advances in solar-energy conversion, photobiocatalysis, and bioinspired materials.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants