Biological photoreceptors convert light into chemical and structural change on ultrafast timescales, enabling processes ranging from vision and photosensing to (potentially) magnetic-field–related signaling. Yet the earliest steps of these transformations, how chromophore structure, protonation state, and the local protein environment steer excited-state evolution, are often hidden in the first femtoseconds to picoseconds after photoexcitation.
In this seminar, Dr. Miroslav Kloz will present recent experimental studies on the photophysics and ultrafast dynamics of biological photoreceptors, with emphasis on retinal-based systems and carotenoid-containing complexes, alongside emerging investigations relevant to molecular mechanisms of magnetoreception. Using advanced time-resolved spectroscopic approaches, including femtosecond stimulated Raman spectroscopy complemented by transient optical methods, he will discuss how subtle changes in chromophore configuration and environment shape photochemical pathways, energy-transfer processes, protonation dynamics, and overall photoreactivity.
About the speaker
Dr. Miroslav Kloz is an experimental scientist working at the interface of molecular biophysics, photochemistry, and ultrafast spectroscopy. He earned his BSc and MSc in biophysics from the University of South Bohemia, with early research including interferometric measurements of heat dissipation in photosynthesis and a Master’s thesis on energy transfer in the chlorophyll-peridinin protein complex. He obtained his PhD from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, focusing on femtosecond vibrational spectroscopy of carotenoids and the development of frequency-modulated stimulated Raman spectroscopy.
His current research investigates excited-state dynamics in biologically relevant chromophores, particularly retinal proteins and carotenoids, using femtosecond stimulated Raman spectroscopy and related ultrafast laser-based techniques, with a focus on how structure, protonation, and local environment govern key photophysical and photochemical steps. Dr. Kloz is based at The Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI) Beamlines in Prague, Czech Republic.
