In an effort to fight climate change, a team of German scientists seek to create a more efficient way of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Tobias Erb, managing director of the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, received USD 1 million for leading efforts to engineer enzymes that could make photosynthesis more efficient.
Photosynthesis is a process by which plants use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to create oxygen and energy in the form of sugar.
Dr Erb said the technology his team has developed could eventually allow captured carbon dioxide to be used to make new chemical building blocks for products such as fuel, antibiotics or even food.