HARRY ALAN FRANK

 

Professor of Chemistry

Associate Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

University of Connecticut, U-3060

55 North Eagleville Road

Storrs, Connecticut  06269-3060
Telephone:  860-486-2844      Fax:  860-486-6558

E-mail:  harry.frank@uconn.edu         Web:  http://chemistry.uconn.edu/frank.htm

 

Birthdate:  September 25, 1951      Birthplace:  Memphis, TN     Vitae Revised:  March 9, 2006

 

Education:     B.S.                 1973    Memphis State University
Ph.D.               1977    Boston University

 

Experience:    1974-77           Graduate Research Fellow, Boston University
1977-80           Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Laboratory of Chemical Biodynamics
                        University of California, Berkeley, California
1980-86           Assistant Professor, University of Connecticut
1986-90           Associate Professor, University of Connecticut
1987                Visiting Scientist, Centre d'Etudes Nucleaires de Saclay, France
1990-               Professor, University of Connecticut
1992-97           Co-head, Macromolecular Characterization Facility, University of Connecticut Biotechnology Center
1995                Visiting Scientist, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands

                        2003                Visiting Professor, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland

                        2004-               Associate Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

 

Honors or Distinctions:        Elected Member, Council of the American Society for Photobiology, 2005; Chairman, Gordon Research Conference on Carotenoids, 2004; University of Connecticut Outstanding Honors Teacher and Mentor Award, 2002-2003; University of Connecticut ChancellorÕs Research Excellence Award, 2002;President, International Carotenoid Society, 2002-present; Elected Member, Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering, 1999; University of Connecticut Alumni Association Faculty Excellence Award in Research, 1999; Elected Member, University of Connecticut Faculty Senate, 1999-present; General Secretary, International Carotenoid Society, 1998-2001; J. William Fulbright Scholar, 1994-1995; American Chemical Society Connecticut Valley Section Award, 1987; Chairman-elect, Eastern Regional Photosynthesis Conference, 1986; University of Connecticut Faculty Summer Fellowship, 1981; NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship, 1978-1980; Sigma Xi/Boston University Chemistry Award, 1977; Chapman Foundation Chemistry Scholar, 1970

 

Professional Societies:           American Chemical Society; American Association for the Advancement of Science; Biophysical Society; American Society for Photobiology; International Carotenoid Society; Phi Lambda Upsilon; Sigma Xi; American Association of University Professors

 

Fields of Specialization:        Physical and Biophysical Chemistry

 

Research Interests:               Structure and Function of Carotenoids; Energy and Electron Transfer in Photosynthesis;  Molecular Spectroscopy and Magnetic Resonance of Biological Pigments and Pigment-protein Complexes.

Publications (since 2000)

 

Full papers

 

 

75.    H. A. Frank, J. A. Bautista, J. S. Josue and A. J. Young.  Mechanism of nonphotochemical quenching in green plants:  Energies of the lowest excited singlet states of violaxanthin and zeaxanthin.  Biochemistry  39 (2000) 2831-2837.

 

76.    H. A. Frank, J. A. Bautista, J. Josue, Z. Pendon, R. G. Hiller, F. P. Sharples, D. Gosztola, and M. R. Wasielewski.  Effect of Solvent Environment on the Spectroscopic Properties and Dynamics of the Lowest Excited States of Carotenoids.  J. Phys. Chem. B 104 (2000) 4569-4577.

 

77.    Pol’vka, T., Zigmantas, D., Herek , J. L., Bautista, J.A., Frank, H. A., Sundstršm, V. Direct observation of the S1 level of the carotenoid spheroidene using near infrared femtosecond spectroscopy. In: Ultrafast Phenomena XII (eds. T. Elseasser, S. Mukamel, M. M. Murname, N. F. Scheerer), p. 668, Springer Verlag (2000).

 

78.    H. A. Frank, Somes Kumar Das, J. A. Bautista, D. Bruce, S. Vasil'ev, M. Crimi, R. Croce and R. Bassi.  The photochemical behavior of xanthophylls in the recombinant photosystem II antenna complex, CP26.  Biochemistry 40 (2001) 1220-1225.

 

79.    T. Pol’vka, D. Zigmantas, H. A. Frank, J. A. Bautista, J. L. Herek, Y. Koyama, R. Fujii and V. Sundstršm. Near-infrared time-resolved study of the S1 state dynamics of the carotenoid spheroidene.  J. Phys. Chem. B 105 (2001) 1072-1080.

 

80.    Z. Gao, H. A. Frank, Y. M. Lvov and J. F. Rusling.  Influence of bromide on electrochemistry of photosynthetic reaction center films on gold electrodes.  Bioelectrochemistry 54 (2001) 97 - 100.

 

81.    P. M. Dolan, D. Miller, R. J. Cogdell, R. R. Birge and H. A. Frank.  Linear dichroism and the transition dipole moment orientation of the carotenoid in the LH2 antenna complex in membranes of Rhodopseudomonas acidophila strain 10050.  J. Phys. Chem. B 105 (2001) 12134-12142.

 

82.    B. Munge, Z. Pendon, H. A. Frank and J. F. Rusling.  Electrochemical reactions of redox cofactors in Rhodobacter sphaeroides reaction center proteins in lipid films.  Bioelectrochemistry 54 (2001) 145-150.

 

83.    C. Cai, B. Liu, M. V. Mirkin, H. A. Frank and J. F. Rusling.  Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy of Living Cells. 3.  Rhodobacter sphaeroides.  Analytical Chemistry 74 (2002) 114-119.

 

84.    H. A. Frank, J. S. Josue, J. A. Bautista, I. van der Hoef, F. J. Jansen, J. Lugtenburg, G. Wiederrecht, and R. L. Christensen. .Spectroscopic and photochemical properties of open-chain carotenoids.  J. Phys. Chem. B 106 (2002) 2083-2092.

 

85.    J. S. Josue and H. A. Frank.  Direct determination of the S1 excited state energies of xanthophylls by low temperature fluorescence spectroscopy.  J. Phys. Chem. A 106 (2002) 4815-4824.

 

86.    T. Pol’vka, D. Zigmantas, J. L. Herek, Z. He, T. Pullerits, R. J. Cogdell, H. A. Frank and V. Sundstršm.  The carotenoid S1 state in LH2 complexes from purple bacteria Rhodobacter sphaeroides and Rhodopseudomonas acidophila: S1 energies, dynamics, and carotenoid radical formation.  J. Phys. Chem. B 106 (2002) 11016-11025.

 

87.    S. K. Das and H. A. Frank.  Pigment compositions, spectral properties, and energy transfer efficiencies between the xanthophylls and chlorophylls in the major and minor pigment-protein complexes of Photosystem II.  Biochemistry 41 (2002) 13087-13095.

 

88.    A. M. Dokter, M. C. van Hemert, C. M. InÕt Velt, K. van der Hoef, J. Lugtenburg, H. A. Frank and E. J. J. Groenen.  The resonance Raman spectrum of all-trans spheroidene. DFT analysis and isotope labeling. J. Phys. Chem. A 106 (2002) 9463-9469.

 

89.    R. Zeng, J. van Tol, A. Deal, H. A. Frank and D. E. Budil.  Temperature dependence of the primary donor triplet state g-tensor in photosynthetic reaction centers of Rhodobacter sphaeroides R-26 observed by transient 240 GHz EPR. J. Phys. Chem. B 107 (2003) 4624-4631.

 

90.    E. Papagiannakis,  S. K. Das,  A. Gall,  I. H. M.  van  Stokkum, B. Robert, R. van Grondelle, H. A. Frank, J. T. M. Kennis.  Light harvesting by carotenoids incorporated into the B850 light-harvesting complex from Rhodobacter sphaeroides R-26.1: Excited-state relaxation, ultrafast triplet formation and energy transfer to bacteriochlorophyll.  J. Phys. Chem. B 107 (2003) 5642-5649.

 

91.    S. Shima, R. P. Ilagan, N. Gillespie, B. J. Sommer, R. G. Hiller, F. P. Sharples, H. A. Frank, and R. R. Birge. Two-photon and fluorescence spectroscopy and the effect of environment on the photochemical properties of peridinin in solution and in the peridinin-chlorophyll-protein from Amphidinium carterae. J. Phys. Chem. A 107 (2003) 8052-8066.

 

92.    C. BrŸckner, J. R. McCarthy, H. W. Daniell, Z. D. Pendon, R. P. Ilagan, T. M. Francis, L. Ren, R. R. Birge and H. A. Frank.  A spectroscopic and computational study of the singlet and triplet excited states of synthetic b-functionalized chlorins.  Chem. Phys. 294 (2003) 285–303.

 

93.    B. Munge, S. K. Das, R. Ilagan, Z. Pendon, J. Yang, H. A. Frank, and J. F. Rusling.  Electron Transfer Reactions of Redox Cofactors in Spinach Photosystem I Reaction Center Protein in Lipid Films on Electrodes.  J. Am. Chem. Soc. 125 (2003) 12457-12463.

 

94.    R. P. Ilagan, S. Shima, A. Melkozernov, S. Lin, R. E. Blankenship, F. P. Sharples, R. G. Hiller, R. R. Birge, and H. A. Frank. Spectroscopic properties of the main-form and high-salt peridinin-chlorophyll a-proteins from Amphidinium carterae.  Biochemistry 43 (2004) 1478-1487.

 

95.    A. W. Roszak, K. McKendrick, A. T. Gardiner, I. A. Mitchell N. W. Isaacs, R. J. Cogdell, H. Hashimoto and H. A. Frank.  Protein Regulation of Carotenoid Binding:  Gatekeeper and Locking Amino Acid Residues in Reaction Centers of Rhodobacter sphaeroides.  Structure 12 (2004) 765-773.

 

96.    D. Zigmantas, R. G. Hiller, F. P. Sharples, H. A. Frank, V. Sundstršm and T. Pol’vka.  Effect of Conjugated Carbonyl Group on Photophysical Properties of Carotenoids.  Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 6 (2004) 3009-3016.

 

97.    A. Haddy, K. V. Lakshmi, G. W. Brudvig and H. A. Frank.  Q-band EPR of the S2 state of Photosystem II confirms an S = 5/2 origin of the X-band g = 4.1 signal.  Biophys. J. 87 (2004) 2885-2896.

 

98.    T. Pol’vka, T. Pullerits, H. A. Frank, R. J. Cogdell and V. Sundstršm.  Ultrafast formation of a carotenoid radical in LH2 antenna complexes of purple bacteria.  J. Phys. Chem. B 108 (2004) 15398-15407.

 

99.    Robielyn P. Ilagan, Ronald L. Christensen, Timothy W. Chapp, George N. Gibson, Torbjšrn Pascher, Tom‡s Pol’vka and Harry A. Frank.  Femtosecond time-resolved absorption spectroscopy of astaxanthin in solution and in a-crustacyanin.  J. Phys. Chem. A 109 (2005) 3120-3127.

 

100.  Zeus D. Pendon, James O. Sullivan, Ineke van der Hoef, Johan Lugtenburg, Agnes Cua, David F. Bocian, Robert R. Birge and Harry A. Frank.  Stereoisomers of carotenoids:  Spectroscopic properties of locked and unlocked cis-isomers of spheroidene. Photosyn. Res. 86 (2005) 5-24.

 

101.  Niels-Ulrik Frigaard, Hui Li, Peter Martinsson, Somes Kumar Das, Harry A. Frank, Thijs J. Aartsma and Donald A Bryant.  Isolation and characterization of carotenosomes from a bacteriochlorophyll c-less mutant of Chlorobium tepidum.  Photosyn. Res. 86 (2005) 101-111.

 

102.  Zeus D. Pendon, George N. Gibson, Ineke van der Hoef, Johan Lugtenburg, and Harry A. Frank.  Effect of isomer geometry on the steady-state absorption spectra and femtosecond time-resolved dynamics of carotenoids. J. Phys. Chem. B 109 (2005) 21172-21179.

 

103.  Dariusz Niedzwiedzki, James F. Rusling and Harry A. Frank.  Voltammetric redox potentials of carotenoids associated with the xanthophyll cycle in photosynthesis.  Chem. Phys. Lett. 415 (2005) 308-312.

 

104.  Kazimierz Czarnecki, Lei Chen, James R. Diers, Harry A. Frank and David F. Bocian. Low-frequency resonance Raman studies of the H(M202)G cavity mutant of bacterial photosynthetic reaction centers. Photosyn. Res. (2005) in press.

 

105.  Zeus D. Pendon, Ineke van der Hoef, Johan Lugtenburg and Harry A. Frank.  Triplet state spectra and dynamics of geometric isomers of carotenoids.  Photosyn. Res. (2005) in press.

 

Book Chapters and Reviews

 

1.      H. A. Frank.  Electron paramagnetic resonance studies of carotenoids,  in Methods in Enzymology Carotenoids, Part A. Chemistry, Separation, Quantitation and Antioxidation. Packer, L. ed., Vol. 213:305-312, Academic Press, New York, 1992.

 

2.      H. A. Frank.  Carotenoids in photosynthetic bacterial reaction centers:  Structure, Spectroscopy and Photochemistry, in The Photosynthetic Reaction Center.  Vol. 2 Norris, J. R. and Deisenhofer, J. eds., Academic Press, New York, pp. 221-237, 1993.

 

3.      H. A. Frank.  Book review of Transition Ion Electron Paramagnetic Resonance, by J. R. Pilbrow.  Oxford University Press, New York, 1991.  J. Solid State Chem. 97:5335, 1992.

 

4.      H. A. Frank and R. J. Cogdell.  Photochemistry and Functions of Carotenoids in Photosynthesis, Ch. 8 in Carotenoids in Photosynthesis, A. Young and G. Britton, eds., Springer-Verlag, London, pp. 252-326, 1993.

 

5.      H. A. Frank.  Carotenoids in Photosynthesis.  InterAmerican Photochemical Society Newsletter, May 1994.

 

6.      H. A. Frank and R. L. Christensen.  Singlet Energy Transfer from Carotenoids to Bacteriochlorophylls.  in: Blankenship et al., eds., Anoxygenic Photosynthetic Bacteria, Advances in Photosynthesis, Kluwer Academic Publishing, pp. 373-384, 1995.

 

7.      H. A. Frank and R. J. Cogdell.  Carotenoids in Photosynthesis.  Invited Review. Photochem. Photobiol. 63:257-264, 1996

 

8.      A. J. Young and H. A. Frank.  Energy transfer reactions involving carotenoids:  Quenching of chlorophyll fluorescence.  J. Photochem. Photobiol. B: Biology 36 (1996) 3-15.

 

9.      H. A. Frank, A. J. Young, G. Britton and R. J. Cogdell, eds., The Photochemistry of Carotenoids, Advances in Photosynthesis, Kluwer Academic Publishing, 1999.

 

10.    H. A. Frank.  Incorporation of carotenoids into reaction center and light-harvesting pigment-protein complexes.  in: H. A. Frank, A. J. Young, G. Britton and R. J. Cogdell, eds., The Photochemistry of Carotenoids, Advances in Photosynthesis, Kluwer Academic Publishing, Ch. 13, pp. 235-244, 1999.

 

11.    H. A. Frank.  Spectroscopic studies of the low-lying singlet excited electronic states and photochemical properties of carotenoids.  Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 385 (2001) 53-60.

 

12.    C. A. Tracewell, J. S. Vrettos, J. A. Bautista, H. A. Frank and G. W. Brudvig.  Carotenoid photooxidation in Photosystem II.  Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 385 (2001) 61-69.

 

13.    B. J. Pogson, H. M. Rissler and H. A. Frank. The roles of carotenoids in energy quenching and thermal dissipation in higher plants.  in: T. Wydrzynski and K. Satoh, eds., Photosystem II:  The Water/Plasoquinone Oxido-Reductase In Photosynthesis, Kluwer Academic Publishing, Ch. 21, pp. (in press).

 

14.    R. L. Christensen, E. L. Barney, R. D. Broene and M. G. I. Galinato and H. A. Frank.  Linear Polyenes: Models for the Spectroscopic and Photophysical Behavior of Carotenoids.  Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 430 (2004) 30–36.

 

15.    H. A. Frank and G. W. Brudvig.  Redox function of carotenoids in photosynthesis.  Biochemistry 43 (2004) 8607-8615.

 

16.    H. A. Frank.  Book review of Light-harvesting antennas in photosynthesis.  B. R. Green and W. W. Parson, eds. (Series ed. Govindjee) Vol. 13, 513 pp. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, 2003. Photosynthesis Research 82 (2004) 109.