Robert Burnap
Regents Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
2019
Robert L. Burnap received his bachelor’s degree at the University of Michigan. He
went on to the University of California at Los Angeles for a Masters in biology and
then to University of California at Santa Barbara, where he developed a Ph.D. thesis
on the evolution of the oxygenic photosynthetic mechanism. His postdoctoral training
was in the genetic manipulation cyanobacteria and biophysical analysis of photosynthetic
proteins at Purdue University. As a faculty member in the Department of Microbiology
& Molecular Genetics at OSU, he continues research and teaching in fundamental aspects
of living systems. He leads two on-going research projects: The first, supported
by the NSF, investigates the core process of photosynthesis where light energy is
harnessed to split water, also known as water oxidation– a process that underpins
natural solar energy production enabling plant growth and sustaining high levels of
oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere. The second, funded by the DOE, the CO2 concentrating
mechanism in cyanobacteria. Both projects combine molecular genetics, biochemistry,
and biophysics to understand these processes at the molecular level. Besides the
fundamental knowledge derived, research into these topics has special relevance to
the development of sustainable, Earth-friendly technologies. Deeply committed to
education, Burnap brings together a mix of undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral
researchers in his group. He teaches several courses including Cell & Molecular Biology,
Bioenergetics, and Principals of Bioinformatics. The Bioinformatics class started
as a graduate course, but is now populated with an equal number of undergraduate students
interested in this fast-moving field that is closely connected to genomics and other
vanguard areas of biology. Burnap has served as a rotating Program Director in the
Division of Cellular and Molecular Biochemistry at the National Science Foundation
where he received recognitions for leadership in ‘Advancing the New Biology’ and for
the co-development of the US-United Kingdom Photosynthesis Ideas Lab, which employed
an innovative think-tank approach to the promotion of innovation and multi-disciplinary
research. More recently, he is a recipient of an Einstein Fellowship in Germany enabling
collaborative research with scientists in Berlin.
Research Interests:
- Mechanism of photosynthetic water oxidation
- CO2 uptake mechanisms of powered-carbonic anhydrases in cyanobacteria
- Integrative modeling of unicellular growth
