In photosynthesis, sunlight is converted into the biochemical energy needed to power life and drive cellular processes. Anjali Pandit combines advanced spectroscopy and biochemical approaches to understand the structural mechanisms that regulate photosynthesis in atomic detail.

More information about Anjali Pandit

Biography

Dr. Anjali Pandit holds a MsC degree in Experimental Physics (UvA) and a PhD in Biophysics (VU Amsterdam, advisors Profs. van Grondelle and Kraayenhof) on photosynthetic proteins and bioactive peptides. After her PhD, she spent a 2-yr postdoc at CEA-Saclay, France supported by ESF and NWO-TALENT stipend. She returned to the Netherlands with an NWO VENI personal fellowship. After her VENI, she considered positions outside academia and accepted a position as researcher and programme manager of the European network HARVEST (15 research groups, 23 fellows, 4.9 MEuro). Here she was responsible for daily management, midterm review reporting and coordination with EU programme officers and finance administrators. While enjoying the responsibilities, she missed in those direct involvement in science, stimulating her to also remain active as a researcher and establish scientific collaborations within the network. To pursue a scientific career, she successfully applied for a prestigious NWO VIDI research grant that she got awarded in 2013. Since end 2013, she holds a PI position at the Leiden Institute of Chemistry (LIC). 
The Pandit group aims to understand molecular mechanisms in natural photosynthesis and use those as inspiration for artificial photosynthesis. They combine MAS NMR, optical spectroscopy and tailored membrane models to study protein switches involved in photo regulation and the role of thylakoid membrane structural dynamics. Another interest is design and characterisation of artificial metalloproteins for solar energy conversion.

Anjali is recipient of competitive personal career grants for scientific excellence (TALENT, VENI, VIDI) from the Dutch Organization of Scientific Research (NWO). The Leiden NMR groups are part of the Dutch Roadmap consortium uNMR-NL. As a teacher, she developed and presents the yearly MSc course Photosynthesis & Bio Energy for Chemistry and LST and she coordinates and teaches Photon Power for the BSc adv. minor Sustainable Chemistry & Biotechnology. She has been an invited board member and expert reviewer for various grant scheme organisations, including ERC Consolidator, German Research Foundation, British Research Council and NWO. Further, she has taken place in organising committees of >10 (inter)national meetings and workshops in her field and she was scientific chair of the International Light-Harvesting Satellite Conference in 2016. Local institutional responsibilities include heading the NMR Advisory Committee for the Leiden NMR facilities.

Curriculum Vitae

Current and previous research positions

2019 – now     Assistant professor, Leiden Institute of Chemistry, Leiden University, NL
2013 – 2019     Tenure Track Assistant Professor, Leiden Institute of Chemistry, Leiden University, NL
2010 – 2013   Researcher, Dept. of Biophysics, Faculty of Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, NL
2006 – 2009   Post-doctoral researcher (Veni), Leiden Institute of Chemistry, Leiden University, NL
2003 – 2005   Post-doctoral researcher (TALENT stipend), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA) Saclay in collaboration with Ipsen Pharma Inc.

Education

2003   PhD, Faculty of Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, NL
Thesis title: ‘Folding and Oligomerization of Membrane Proteins’
Advisors: Prof. R. van Grondelle and Prof. R. Kraayenhof
1996   MSc in Physics, Faculty of Physics and Astronomy, University of Amsterdam, NL

Grants, awards, recognitions

2022   NWO-ENW XS (k€ 50)
2020   uNMR-NL Roadmap (co-applicant, ~1.6 M€ for Leiden high-field NMR spectrometers)
2020   NWO-Groot ‘Nanoscale regulators in photosynthesis’ (2,8 M€, share: ~0,4 M€)
2016   FOM Projectruimte Grant (k€ 400)
2013   NWO-CW VIDI Grant (k€ 800)
2006   NWO-CW VENI personal grant (k€ 200)
2003   NWO TALENT stipend (k€ 24 for 1 yr postdoc at CEA)
2003  ESF fellowship (k€ 3 for 3 month research project at CEA Saclay, France)
2002  NWO PhD travel grant (1.5 k€, for 1 month PhD research project in USA)

Contribution to teaching and supervision

Present

• Coordinator and co-teacher of BSc course Photon Power for the adv. Minor Sustainable Chemistry & Biotechnology, Leiden/Delft University
• Teacher MSc course Photosynthesis & Bio Energy (Chemistry and LST, Leiden University)
• Mentor and examiner MSc educational programmes LST and Chemistry, Leiden University

Past

• Member Educational Committees BSc MST and MSc LST Leiden/Delft
• 2019-2020 Teacher BSc Algemene en Anorganische Chemie for MST, Leiden/Delft University 
• 2015 Co-organiser (with Marc Koper) and lecturer of the International Summer School Artificial Photosynthesis (3^rd year bachelor)
• 2014-2018 Lecturer Pre-university course “Chemie van de Fotosynthese” 
• 2015 guest Lecture NMR spectroscopy, 1^st year Nanobiology, Delft University
• 2012 Teacher and coordinator EU course on Grant Writing and EU course Spectroscopy for HARVEST young investigators

Supervision
(Co-)supervision of 10 PhD students and 2 postdocs in present and past, of whom 6 financed from personal grants. Three of the former postdocs and PhDs now hold research positions as assistant professor/PI, while others occupy postdoc positions or found jobs in industry. Supervision of >20 BSc and MSc students in LST, MST, Chemistry and Biology and MSc Erasmus programmes. 

Teaching, supervision, and leadership courses

• Basis Kwalificatie Onderwijs (BKO) 2018
• Acquisition & Earning Power (Aletta Wubben coaching) 2017
• Situational Leadership (Aletta Wubben coaching) 2016
• Personal Effectiveness (Aletta Wubben coaching) 2015
• ICLON training Course Design 2015

Other responsibilities

• Chair Leiden NMR Consultation Committee 2022-present   
• Editorial Board member of Nature Scientific Reports 2017-2021
• Programme Committee DutchBioPhysics (> 200 participants), Veldhoven in 2019 and 2020
• Guest editor for Springer journal Photosynthesis Research on the Special Issue “Photosynthetic Light Harvesting” in 2018
• Chair International Satellite meeting Photosynthetic Light Harvesting (120 participants) in 2016
• Co-organiser NextGenChem, Leiden in 2015
• Member review panel Open Competition Earth and Life Sciences, NWO
• Member Leiden NMR Advisory Committee 2014-2022   
• Member Habilitation (HDR) rapporteur, CEA-Saclay, France (2021)
• Participant (invited) of brainstorm “WP Klimaatstop” (organiser Aletta Wubben coaching with participating scientists from Leiden and Delft University) 2016 
• Co-organiser Conference “From Science to Industry”, Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands (~200 participants) 2013
• Co-organiser of EU workshops and conferences (60-120 participants) in Sweden (Umea), Germany (Passau), UK (Cambridge), Finland (Naantali), and Italy (Venice) between 2010-2013
• Invited Expert grant Reviewer for (amongst others) ERC Consolidator; British Research Counsil BRC; German Research Foundation DFG; Austrian Research Foundation; Norwegian Research Foundation and NWO
• Reviewer for international journals including Angewandte Chemie, Nature Plants, Nature Comm., J. Phys. Chem. Lett, BBA Bioenergetics, FEBS Letters, J. of Biol. Chem, Scientific Reports, Biochemistry 
• Co-editor of the White Paper “Solar Energy for the Production of Clean Fuel” which formed the basis of the ESF Policy Briefing (2008) and a preliminary route to the Dutch research programme BioSolar Cells (2012-2017, 42 M€)
• Participant and co-editor Priority Research Directions of the invited BrainstormWorkshop "The Future of Solar Energy Conversion", Regensburg, Germany (2006)

Publication record including five recent representative publications

Full publication record: Leiden University

• F. Nami, M. Joao Ferraz, Th. Bakkum, J.M.F.G. Aerts, A. Pandit, Real-time NMR recording of fermentation and lipid metabolism processes in live microalgae cells (2022) Angewandte Chemie, 61 (14), e202117521 Editor selection: Hot Paper in NMR spectroscopy DOI: 10.1002/anie.202117521
• A. Pandit, Structural dynamics of light harvesting proteins, photosynthetic membranes, and cells observed by spectral editing solid-state NMR (2022) J. Chem. Phys. 157 (2), 025101, DOI: 10.1063/5.0094446
• M. Krishnan-Schmieden, P.E. Konold, J.T.M. Kennis, A. Pandit, The molecular pH-response mechanism of the plant light-stress sensor PsbS, (2021) Nature Communications 12 (1), 1-11, doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-22530-4
• F. Nami, L. Tian, M. Huber, R. Croce, A. Pandit, Lipid and protein dynamics of stacked and cation-depleted unstacked thylakoid membranes, (2021), BBA Advances 1, 100015, DOI: 10.1016/j.bbadva.2021.100015
• F. Azadi-Chegeni, M.E. Ward, G. Perin, D. Simionato, T. Morosinotto, M. Baldus, A. Pandit, Conformational dynamics of Light-Harvesting Complex II in a native membrane environment, (2021) Biophys J. 120, p270-283, DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2020.11.2265

Selective presentations at international conferences

• Session Chair and Introduction Photosynthetic Light Harvesting, Gordon Research Conference Photosynthesis, USA 2023 (invited)
• European Magnetic resonance meeting (EUROMAR), Utrecht, (2022)
• Nordic Photosynthesis Conference, NPC, Gothenburg, Sweden (2021)
• 40th Ann. Discussion Meeting Magnetic Resonance, ISMAR, Germany invited (2018)
• Intl. Soc. Photosynth Research (ISPR) meeting, Vancouver, Canada (2018)
• German Biophysical Society Meeting “Structure, Dynamics and Interactions of Biomolecules” plenary Hunfeld, Germany (2015)

Publications