Elisabeth Gantt

Elisabeth Gantt, Distinguished University Professor, University of MarylandInducted in 2009 for her pioneering work in understanding quantum efficiency and excitation migration paths in photosynthesis in bacteria and algae.

Dr. Elisabeth Gantt has been on the forefront of basic plant biology research for years. She has discovered invaluable information about the photosynthetic apparatus of algae, among other plants. Gantt’s research stems from the question of how plants maximize the absorption and utilization of light energy. Her contributions have prompted the biology and biophysics spheres to take a closer look at similar critical issues. Gantt's research focuses on the absorption and transfer of light energy through intracellular supramolecular complexes which house light-harvesting proteins.

red ketocarotenoid astaxanthin

A microalgae with the pigment of red ketocarotinoid astaxanthin. Gantt has studied the biosynthetic pathway of carotenoids in photosynthetic microalgae. Carotenoids play essential roles in protecting organisms against potential lethal photo-oxidative damage. In photosynthesis they function in harvesting light for photosynthesis, but also in the dissipation of energy under conditions of excess light.
She has examined the relationships between enzymes, proteins, and pigments in the photosynthetic apparatus of phycobilin-containing algae. An example of one such protein that Gantt works with includes red ketocarotenoid astaxanthin which is frequently used as an additive for fish feed as well as in nutritional human supplements.

She teaches courses on cell biology, including plant biology, at the graduate and undergraduate level, as well as bioethics. Over the years she has been active in many professional organizations especially with the American Society of Plant Biologists, the Phycological Society of America.

Dr. Gantt was inducted into the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 1996 and is a Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland. She received the Academy's Gilbert Morgan Smith Medal in 1994 for her discovery of a new type of light-harvesting complex called a phycobilisome, unique to red and blue-green algae.

She was a recipient of the University of Maryland's Board of Regents Faculty Award in 2002-2003 for Excellence in Research/Scholarships/Creative Activity. In addition, Gantt is a strong supporter of the American Institute of Biological Science, the American Society of Photobiology, and the American Society of Plant Physiologists, for which she served as president from 1988-1989.

Elisabeth Gantt is a graduate of Blackburn College and Northwestern University. She became a Professor at the University of Maryland in 1988.