The inaugural "Hua Xi Cup" CO2 Capture, Conversion and Utilization Design Competition recently concluded with great success at the Beijing Conference Center. The project "Balancing Reductive Force in Microalgal Carbon Fixation Process Modulated by Biocompatible Nano Copper Clusters" (participating students: Jiang Erying, Zhang Lili, Fang Xia; instructors: Fan Yong), a collaboration between the Single Carbon Biology Technology Research Center and the Cluster Chemistry and Energy Catalysis Research Group, stood out among all the entries from research institutes and universities nationwide to win second prize.

The Single Carbon Biology Technology Research Center focuses on the key directions of the "14th Five-Year Plan", "taking photosynthetic microalgae as a model to establish new mechanisms and methods for multi-dimensional adaptation of light energy-carbon source-reactors-cells, and reveal the laws governing multi-scale material and energy transformations during biosynthetic processes of energy organisms." The participating team proposed that balancing reductive force inside the cell is the key to synergistic transformation of photosynthetic energy and organic carbon energy during microalgal mixotrophic processes. In the research, they tried to leverage the unique atomic-level structure, discrete energy levels, and distinct redox properties of clusters. Through precise design and co-cultivation with model diatoms Phaeodactylum tricornutum, they identified the cell compatibility and ability to balance intracellular reductive levels. For the first time, relying on the catalytic advantages of metal clusters, they accurately designed the redox potentials of clusters using mass spectrometry, enabling them to intervene in the redox reactions of microalgal carbon fixation, constructing new reaction pathways or energy dissipation transformation systems. This aims to provide catalytic templates with molecular properties for designing metabolic pathways in synthetic biology and enzyme engineering, and present new opportunities for studying biological catalysis at the atomic level. The topic design and research process was guided and assisted by Li Fuli, researcher at the Single Carbon Biology Technology Research Center, Sun Xiaoyan and Yan Xiaomei, researchers from the Cluster Chemistry and Energy Catalysis Research Group.