Photosynth Res
DOI 10.1007/s11120-015-0207-9

NEWS REPORTInternational conference on ‘‘Photosynthesis researchfor sustainability-2015’’ in honor of George C. Papageorgiou’’,
September 21–26, 2015, Crete, Greece
Suleyman I. Allakhverdiev1,2,3 • Tatsuya Tomo4,5 • Kostas Stamatakis6 •Govindjee7

 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

Abstract During September 21–26, 2015, an international conference entitled ‘‘Photosynthesis Research for
Sustainability-2015’’ was held in honor of George C.
Papageorgiou at the Conference Center of the Orthodox
Academy of Crete, an exceptionally beautiful location righton the Mediterranean Sea coast, Kolymvari, Chania, Crete,(Greece) (see http://photosynthesis2015.cellreg.org/). The
meeting was held under the auspices of the Greek ‘‘General
Secretariat for Research and Technology’’ (GSRT). We
first provide a brief introduction and key contributions ofGeorge C. Papageorgiou, the honored scientist, and theninformation on the conference, on the speakers, and theprogram. A special feature of this conference was awards
given to 13 young investigators, who are recognized in thisReport. Several photographs are also included; they show
the pleasant ambience at this conference. We invite thereaders to the next conference on ‘‘Photosynthesis
Research for Sustainability-2016,’’ which will honor
This manuscript was invited and approved for publication in this issue
by Anastasios Melis.
& Govindjee
gov@illinois.edu; gov@life.illinois.edu
Suleyman I. Allakhverdiev
suleyman.allakhverdiev@gmail.com

Nathan Nelson and T. Nejat Veziroglu; it will be held
during June 19–25, 2016, in Pushchino, Moscow Region,
Russia (see http://photosynthesis2016.cellreg.org/).
Keywords Olga Avercheva  Cinzia Formighieri  Václav
Karlický  Eleni Koutra  Pasqual Liauw  Paula Mulo  Ryo
Nagao  Xiaochun Qin  Marjaana Rantala  Ginga
Shimakawa  Bettina Ughy  Georgia Zahariou  Marek
ZivcakIntroduction
The 2015 conference in Crete (Greece) followed earlier
conferences held in 2004 (Canada), 2007 (Russia), 2011
and 2013 (Azerbaijan) and in 2014 (Russia). See Allakhverdiev et al. (2012, 2013, 2014) for reports on these
conferences. It was a great pleasure for the hosts of the2015 conference on ‘‘Photosynthesis Research for Sustainability’’ to welcome nearly 150 participants from 20

3Department of Plant Physiology, Faculty of Biology, M.V.
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskie Gory 1-12,
Moscow, Russia 119991

4

Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Tokyo Universityof Science, Kagurazaka 1-3, Shinjuku-Ku, Tokyo 162-8601,
Japan

5

PRESTO, Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST),
4-1-8 Honcho Kawaguchi, Saitama 332-0012, Japan

6

Institute of Biosciences and Applications, National Center of
Scientific Research ‘‘Demokritos’’, 153 10 Athens, Greece

7

Department of Plant Biology, Department of Biochemistry,
and Center of Biophysics & Quantitative Biology, University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA

Tatsuya Tomo
tomo@rs.tus.ac.jp
Kostas Stamatakis
kstam@bio.demokritos.gr
1

2

Controlled Photobiosynthesis Laboratory, Institute of Plant
Physiology, Russian Academy of Sciences, BotanicheskayaStreet 35, Moscow, Russia 127276
Institute of Basic Biological Problems, Russian Academy of
Sciences, Pushchino, Moscow Region, Russia 142290

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Photosynth Res

Fig. 1 A group photograph of the participants in front of the conference building. Photo by Misato Teramura

countries. Figure 1 shows a group photograph of the participants at this conference that was held during September
21–26, 2015 in Crete. It was a great occasion for discussions of molecular to global aspects of research on
photosynthesis (http://photosynthesis2015.cellreg.org/Pro
gramme.php).

George C. Papageorgiou
Before we provide information on the conference, we
provide a brief introduction of George C. Papageorgiou. He
is a graduate of Anatolia College of Thessaloniki, of the
Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki (BS, Chemistry,1958) and of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), IL, USA (PhD, Biophysics, 1968). His
thesis advisor was one of the present authors (Govindjee);
the title of his thesis was: Fluorescence induction in
Chlorella pyrenoidosa and Anacystis nidulans and its
relation to photophosphorylation; it is available free ofcharge at http://www.life.illinois.edu/govindjee/theses.
html.
George has served in the Greek Army (as a reserve
officer) and taught chemistry to students and university
candidates. After obtaining his PhD, he was a researchscientist in the Photosynthesis Program of the Nuclear
Research Center (NRC), Demokritos—then headed by
George Akoyunoglou, the founder and director of that
program—the first such program held in Greece (1969).
Later Papageorgiou was the Head of the Program of Biophysics and Biotechnology of Membranes (which he hadfounded), and Director of the Institute of Biology. He also
served as a member of the Executive Council of the
National Center of Scientific Research (NCSR), Demokritos. He retired from Demokritos in 2001, but continues towork there almost every day.
George was a founding member and an Executive Board
member of the Hellenic Biochemical and BiophysicalSociety, and a member of the American Chemical Society
and of the American Biophysical Society. In addition, he
was a member of the European Expert Committee on

123

Biomaterials of the United Nations Educational, Scientificand Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the representativeof Greece deputed to the Advanced Studies Institutes
program of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization),and a member of the Editorial Board of Photosynthetica(see Stamatakis et al. 2016).
George Papageorgiou has published more than 120
outstanding research papers, and reviews, in top journals in
his field, and co-edited several books along with eminent
research scientists in the areas of photosynthesis andbioenergetics: James (Jim) Barber, Govindjee, Lester
Packer, Sergio Papa, and Achim Trebst. A complete list of
his publications can be obtained by writing to Kostas
Stamatakis (kstam@bio.demokritos.gr). His researchinterests centered on the theme of chlorophyll fluorescence,
being a reporter of many partial photochemical and photophysical processes involved in photosynthesis. In thisway, he made major contributions to the mechanism of
how plants, algae, and cyanobacteria optimize the use of
the light they absorb by diverting most of it to photosynthesis, and by discarding the remainder as heat and fluorescence. Thus, he studied how changes in the thylakoid
membrane structure, both light induced and ion induced,
regulate the dissipation of the unused energy of theabsorbed photons (Papageorgiou and Govindjee 1967,
1968a, b; Mohanty et al. 1971; and Papageorgiou et al.
1998a, b; reviews by Govindjee and Papageorgiou 1971;
Govindjee et al. 1967, 1973; and Papageorgiou andGovindjee 2014). A second area of his research, highly
pertinent to the current global quest for alternative sourcesof storable and transportable energy, is related to thebiotechnological utilization of photosynthesis for sustained
production of reducing power and possibly of hydrogen gas(Fry et al. 1977; Packer et al. 1977). This research included
also ways and means to prolong photosynthetic activity byimmobilizing membranes with bifunctional crosslinkers(Papageorgiou and Isaakidou 1977; Isaakidou and Papageorgiou 1979; Papageorgiou and Lagoyanni 1983;
Sofrova and Papageorgiou 1981; reviewed by Papageorgiou 1979, 1980), and cells in externally crosslinked
matrices(Papageorgiou
andLagoyanni
1986;Photosynth Res

Papageorgiou et al. 1989; reviewed by Papageorgiou
1987). Further, George has exploited the use of compatible
osmolytes (especially glycine betaine) in stabilizing photosynthetic systems, against membrane structure-randomizing factors (see e.g., Papageorgiou et al. 1991; Mamedov
et al. 1991; Kalosaka and Papageorgiou 1992; Mohanty
et al. 1993; Allakhverdieva et al. 1999; Ladas and Papageorgiou 2000). Lastly, he developed a sensitive fluorometric method, which allows accurate determination ofcytoplasm osmolality and of cell envelope permeability towater and solutes of cyanobacteria (Papageorgiou andAlygizaki-Zorba 1997; Papageorgiou et al. 1998a; Stamatakis and Papageorgiou 2001). This method allows also
for the accurate determination of cell turgor pressure, andof the fractions of diffusional and of aquaporin-facilitatedwater transport across the cell membrane of cyanobacteria(Stamatakis et al. 2005; reviewed by Papageorgiou andStamatakis 2004).
After his retirement in 2001, George pursued several
research themes, including the analysis of the fast and slow
kinetics of chlorophyll a fluorescence (Papageorgiou et al.
2007; Tsimilli-Michael et al. 2009; Kana et al. 2012); thedifferent roles of b-carotene in Photosystem II and Photosystem I, namely, as singlet-excited oxygen and tripletexcited chlorophyll a quencher in the first, and as a lightharvester in the second; and the uniqueness and durabilityof chlorophyll a, both as a light-harvesting-competent andas a redox-competent molecule throughout evolution(Björn et al. 2009; Stamatakis et al. 2014).
Chlorophyll a fluorescence is widely used in the basic
and applied photosynthesis research. Roughly, one out of
every four photosynthesis-related research publications
relies on measurements of chlorophyll fluorescence (datafrom Google Scholar). George is one of the major leadingworld authorities on the exploitation of chlorophyll fluorescence as a sensitive and noninvasive signal of various
photosynthetic reactions not only in cyanobacteria andalgae, but in plants as well (see Papageorgiou and Govindjee 2004, reprinted in 2010).
During his scientific career, he was fortunate to haveassociated with many scientists, who are prominent not
only in photosynthesis, bioenergetics, and biotechnology,
but also in physics and physical chemistry. These scientists
include Govindjee (his mentor; a lifelong association);
Eugene Rabinowitch & Christiaan Sybesma (Biophysics,
both of UIUC, USA); Lester Packer (Bioenergetics,
University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA); George andJoan Akoyunoglou (Biochemistry, NCSR Demokritos);
David Hall (Biotechnology; University of London, King’s
College); Thomas Dorfmüller (Physical Chemistry,
University of Bielefeld, W. Germany); Prasanna Mohanty(Plant Physiology, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New
Delhi, India); Sergio Papa (Bioenergetics, University ofBari, Italy); Daniel Thomas (Enzyme Biotechnology,
Université de Technologie, Compiègne, France); Danuta
Fraçkowiak (Biophysics, Poznan, Poland); Laszlo Szalay(Biophysics, University of Szeged, Hungary), Dana
Sofrova (Biochemistry, Charles University, Chechoslovakia); Algis Piskarkas (Photophysics, Vilnius University,
Lithuania); Elisha Tel-Or (Algal Biotechnology, Hebrew
University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel); Sammy Boushiba (Algal Biotechnology, Ben Gurion University of the
Negev, Israel); Sinerik Ayrapetyan, UNESCO Chair in Life
Sciences, Yerevan, Armenia); Thanassis Kostikas,
Thanassis Simopoulos, Vassilis Petrouleas, and Elsa Karaoulani-Demosthenopoulou (Physics, NCSR Demokritos,
Athens, Greece); and Norio Murata (Biophysics andMolecular Biology, National Institute for Basic Biology(NIBB), Okazaki, Japan). After retirement, Papageorgiou
has collaborated with Ondreij Prášil (Institute of Microbiology; Czech Academy of Sciences).
We would be amiss if we did not mention those who havebenefitted from his mentorship at Demokritos. These
include, in alphabetical order, the late Joan Isaakidou,
Katerina Alygizaki-Zorba, Katerina Kalosaka, Thoula
Lagoyanni, Nectarios Ladas, Georgia Sotiropoulou, Kostas
Stamatakis, currently the Head of the Membrane Biophysics
and Biotechnology Program in Demokritos, and Merope
Tsimilli-Michael.
Lastly, George has served the scientific community byorganizing several Advanced Study Institutes, International
Summer Schools and Conferences in Greece; he did thisprimarily with Lester Packer (USA) and Thanassis Evangelopoulos (Greece), but also with Achim Trebst (Germany), Martin Klingenberg (Germany), Peter Böger(Germany), Karel Wirtz (Netherlands), and James (Jim)
Barber (UK).

The conference
The committees
The two organizing committees, international and local, arelisted in Appendix 1; also see http://photosynthesis2015.
cellreg.org/Organizing-Committee.php. The chairman of
this conference was James (Jim) Barber (UK), one of thepast presidents of International Society of Photosynthesis
Research (ISPR) (http://www.photosynthesisresearch.org/);
we were very fortunate that he delivered the keynote lecture at this conference. The first author (SIA) of this News
Report was the coordinator, the second author (TT) was
secretary of this conference, and the third and fourthauthors (Stamatakis and Govindjee) were the members of
the international organizing committee. Among several
other members, Richard Cogdell (the co-chair, and123

Photosynth Res

President of ISPR) was unfortunately unable to attend thisconference. The chairman of the local organizing committee was Kostas Stamatakis (Greece).
The program
We had an exciting scientific program, which covered thebreadth and depth of photosynthesis, and provided excellent opportunity for all of us to meet photosynthesis
researchers from around the world. Also, this meetingprovided a forum for students, postdoctoral fellows, andscientists from all over the world to broaden their knowledge and understanding of the field, widen professional
contacts, and create new opportunities, including establishing new collaborations. This exciting international
conference covered all the important aspects of photosynthesis, especially their relationship to global issues as wellas hydrogen production and artificial photosynthesis.
Topics discussed at this conference included Primary
Processes of Photosynthesis; Structure, Function, andBiogenesis of the Photosynthetic Apparatus; Photosystem
II and Water Oxidation Mechanism; Excitation Energy
Transfer and Trapping in the Photosystems; Photosystem I
and Bacterial Photosynthesis; Carbon Fixation (C3 and C4)
and Photorespiration; Artificial and Applied aspects of
Photosynthesis; Regulation of Photosynthesis and Environmental Stress; Systems Biology of Photosynthesis:
Integration of Genomic, Proteomic, Metabolomic, andBioinformatic Studies; Photosynthesis Education; andEmerging Techniques for Studying Photosynthesis.
A pdf file of the program is available at: http://photosyn
thesis2015.cellreg.org/documents/2015_PRS_Programme.
pdf.

The speakers
There were 52 speakers and chairpersons. These included(in alphabetical order): Seiji Akimoto (Japan), John F.
Allen (UK), Suleyman I. Allakhverdiev (Russia), Eva-Mari
Aro (Finland), James Barber (UK), Natalya E. Belyaeva(Russia), Marian Brestic (Slovak Republic), Barry D.
Bruce (USA), Tsuyoshi Endo (Japan), Arvi Freiberg (Estonia), Gyozo Garab (Hungary), Vasilij Goltsev (Bulgaria),
Govindjee (USA), George Grammatikopoulos (Greece),
Masahiko Ikeuchi (Japan), Nikolaos E. Ioannidis (Greece),
Alex Ivanov (Canada), Anjana Jajoo (India), Yuki Kato
(Japan), Kiriakos Kotzabasis (Greece), Tingyun Kuang(China), Georgios Liakopoulos (Greece), Eugene G.
Maksimov (Russia), Oxana Masyagina (Russia), Anastasios Melis (USA), Paula Mulo (Finland), Norio Murata(Japan), Ryo Nagao (Japan), Nathan Nelson (Israel), PeterJ. Nixon (UK), Marc M. Nowaczyk (Germany), Yiola
Petropoulou (Greece), Jorg Pieper (Estonia), Xiaochun Qin(China), Jian-Ren Shen (Japan), Toshiharu Shikanai (Japan), Ginga Shimakawa (Japan), Kostas Stamatakis(Greece), Alexandrina Stirbet (USA), Rajagopal Subramanyam (India), Vladimir Sukhov (Russia), Iwane Suzuki(Japan), Yuichiro Takahashi (Japan), Takaya Tanabe (Japan), Tatsuya Tomo (Japan), Elena Tyutereva (Russia), Esa
Tyystjärvi (Finland), Merope Tsimilli-Michael (Greece),
Anatoly A. Tsygankov (Russia), Ivelina Zaharieva

The opening ceremony
James (Jim) Barber (UK) declared the conference open; heshowed a nice photograph of George Papageorgiou (seeFig. 2). He as well as the others (listed in alphabeticalorder: Eva-Mari Aro (Finland); Govindjee (USA); Tingyun
Kuang (China); Anastasios Melis (USA); Norio Murata(Japan); Kimiyuki Satoh (Japan); and Kostas Stamatakis(Greece)) briefed the audience about their past association
as well as scientific and personal achievements of George;
some brought greetings from scientists in their countries,and some (including Govindjee) showed photographs ofGeorge with other scientists. You may find these photographs at http://www.life.illinois.edu/govindjee/honors
from.html. This session ended with a personal and moving
presentation on George by Lena and Katerina, daughters ofGeorge & Sophie Papageorgiou.

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Fig. 2 A 2006 photograph of George C. Papageorgiou. Provided byJames BarberPhotosynth Res(Germany), Georgia Zahariou (Greece), and Marek Zivcak(Slovak Republic).
Most of the talks at this conference dealt with the stateof-the-art research, starting with a brief review of thecurrent knowledge and the relevance of the topic to global
issues, followed by a balanced presentation of the latest
research results, concluding with views on the future
course of research including the outstanding global issues
and challenges facing us all. Further, the chairpersons
emphasized the key points of the talks, steered the discussions by providing additional thoughts, and introduced
related ideas.

Posters
There were about 80 posters, presented both by establishedas well as young scientists from 24 countries. Figure 3
shows a scene at a poster discussion session.
Social events
The conference included several social events; in particular, it included (1) a full day trip to Knossos, which is thelargest archeological site in Crete from the Bronze age.
Knossos is the site of the most important and better-known
palace of Minoan civilization. According to tradition, it
was the seat of the legendary king Minos. The Palace ofKnossos is the largest of the preserved Minoan palatial
centers. The Palace is also connected with thrilling legends,
such as the myth of the Labyrinth with the Minotaur, andthe story of Daidalos and Icaros, dated 2000–1350
B.C.(http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/3/eh351.jsp?obj_id=2369);
and (2) an evening of folk dances from the island of Crete.
We also had wonderful dinners (including a banquet) withlive music and dancing.

Fig. 3 A scene from the poster session. Suleyman Allakhverdiev(2nd from right) already planning the 2016 conference in Russia.
Photo by Toshiyuki Shinoda and Tatsuya Tomo

Figure 4 shows a photograph from the trip to Knossos,
whereas Fig. 5 shows a scene from the dinner/banquet, and agroup dance in the evening; other photographs may be obtainedby writing to one of us (TT: tomo@rs.tus.ac.jp).
Young researchers and the awardees
A committee selected awardees from among the young
scientists, who presented their research at this conference,either in a poster or in a talk. The awards/prizes were
presented to these investigators who had done and presented outstanding work in the field of ‘‘Photosynthesis
Research for Sustainability.’’
The chairpersons of poster viewing and discussion wereMarian Brestic (Slovak Republic), Vasilij Goltsev (Bulgaria), Alex Ivanov (Canada), Yiola Petropoulou (Greece),
Takaya Tanabe (Japan), Tatsuya Tomo (Japan), and Ivelina
Zaharieva (Germany), who selected and nominated the
young researchers for the awards. Then the winners wereselected by another committee which included Suleyman
Allakhverdiev (Russia), Eva-Mari Aro (Finland), James
Barber (UK), Barry Bruce (USA), Gyözö Garab (Hungary),
Govindjee (USA), Jian-Ren Shen (Japan), Kostas Stamatakis (Greece), and Tatsuya Tomo (Japan).
The following received either a monetary award or abook award for their outstanding research. They are (inalphabetical order), with the titles of their presentations:••

Olga Avercheva (with 5 coauthors; Plant Physiology
Department, Faculty of Biology, Lomonosov Moscow
State University, Moscow, Russia): Narrow-band red
and blue light affect chloroplast ATP-synthase structure and function in barley seedlings.
Cinzia Formighieri (with 1 coauthor; Plant andMicrobial Biology, University of California, Berkeley,
CA, USA): Heterologous production of monoterpene
hydrocarbons in cyanobacteria (Synechocystis).

Fig. 4 A scene at Knossos, an ancient archeological site; Norio
Murata, wearing a hat, and two other participants all seem in awe by
it. Photo by Toshiyuki Shinoda and Tatsuya Tomo123

Photosynth Res

Fig. 5 Left Participants at a dinner party and banquet; Papageorgiou reciprocating the toast given in his honor. Right Participants dancing incelebration of the event. Photos by Toshiyuki Shinoda and Tatsuya Tomo

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

Václav Karlický (with 4 authors; Department of
Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Ostrava,
Ostrava-Slezska Ostrava/Global Change Research Centre, Brno, The Czech Republic): Enhanced thermal andlight stability of the thylakoid membranes from spruce.
Eleni Koutra (with 2 coauthors; Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering & Environmental Technology,
Department of Chemical Engineering, University ofPatras, Patras, Greece): Probing the photosynthetic
efficiency of green microalgae used for bioremediationand valorization of anaerobic digestion effluents.
Pasqual Liauw (with 2 coauthors; Plant Biochemistry,
Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany):Application of the TwinStrep-tag/Strepatavidin-his system
for the analysis of Photosystem II assembly intermediates from T. elongatus.
Paula Mulo (with 15 coauthors; Molecular Plant Biology, Department of Biochemistry, University of Turku,Turku, Finland): The LIR 1 protein regulates membrane
tethering of ferredoxin-NADP? oxido-reductase.
Ryo Nagao (Talk; Division of Material Science,
Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University,
Nagoya, Japan): Role of the hydrogen bond network
around Yz in photosynthetic water oxidation.
Xiaochun Qin (Talk; with 3 coauthors; Key Laboratoryof Photobiology, Institute of Botany, CAS, Beijing,
China): Structural basis for energy transfer pathways in
the plant PSI-LHCI supercomplex.
Marjaana Rantala (with 3 coauthors; Department ofBiochemistry/Molecular Plant Biology, University of
Turku, Finland): New insights into short-term lightacclimation in plants—the role of high molecular massprotein complexes.
Ginga Shimakawa (Talk: Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Kobe University, Nada-ku, Kobe,
Japan): Flavodiiron 2 and 4 proteins mediate an O2-

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•

•

•

dependent alternative electron flow in Synechocystis sp.
PCC 6803 under CO2-limited conditions.
Bettina Ughy (with 12 coauthors; Biological ResearchCentre, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Szeged,
Hungary: Role of phosphatidylglycerol in cyanobacterial cells.
Georgia Zahariou (Talk; Institute of Advanced Materials, Physicochemical Processes, Nanotechnology &Microsystems, NCSR Demokritos, Athens, Greece):
Theoretical study of the EPR signal of the S3 TyrZ*
metalloradical intermediate state.
Marek Zivcak (Talk; Department of Plant Physiology,
Slovak Agricultural University, Nitra, Slovak Republic): Physiological significance of photosystem I photoinhibition in wheat leaves.

Figure 6 shows a group photograph of these awardees,
whereas Fig. 7 shows photographs of some of the awardees
with Jim Barber (who presented certificates for theawards), or with Govindjee (who gave the awardees themonetary and book prizes). We note that these books werethe most recent volumes of ‘‘Advances in Photosynthesis
and Respiration Including Bioenergy and Related Processes’’ (Springer, Dordrecht) http://www.springer.com/
series/5599. In Fig. 8, we show a photograph of the award
certificate held by Eleni Koutra, with one of us (Kostas
Stamatakis).

Concluding remarks
In the concluding vote-of-thanks session, Govindjee(USA), Suleyman Allakhverdiev (Russia), Eva-Mari Aro(Finland), James Barber (UK), Gyözö Garab (Hungary),
Tingyun Kuang (China), Norio Murata (Japan), Nathan
Nelson (Israel), Kimiyuki Satoh (Japan), and Kostas

Photosynth Res

Fig. 6 A group photograph of the awardees. Bottom row (left toright): Václav Karlický; Marek Zivcak; Paula Mulo; Paqual
Liauw; Olga Avercheva; Cinzia Formighieri; Georgia Zahariou; Bettina Ughy; Marjaana Rantala; Xiaochun Qin; Ryo Nagao; and Ginga

Shimakawa. (Eleni Koutra, not here, is shown later with her certificate
in Fig. 8). Top row (left to right): Jim Barber; Nathan Nelson;
Suleyman Allakhverdiev; Tingyun Kuang; Govindjee; Eva-Mari Aro;and Gyozo Garab.. Photo by Toshiyuki Shinoda and Tatsuya Tomo

Fig. 7 Awardees either with Jim Barber (JB; who gave certificates)
or with Govindjee (Gov; who gave monetary as well as book prizes).
Upper row (left to right) Pasqual Liauw, with JB; Olga Avercheva,
with JB; Cinzia Formighieri, with Gov; Bottom row (left to right)

Xiaochun Qin, with Gov; Ryo Nagao, with JB; and Georgia Zahariou. with JB Photo by Toshiyuki Shinoda and Tatsuya Tomo; otherphotos are available from Tatsuya Tomo

Stamatakis (Greece)) thanked all those who made thisconference possible; further, thanks were given on behalfof all the international participants, and, were directed tomany, including the local (Greek) organizers (seeAcknowledgments).
In our view, the 2015 conference on photosynthesis in
Crete (Greece) provided all of the participants an opportunity to present their latest research; further, it provided awonderful environment for socializing with colleagues
both old and new.
‘‘Photosynthesis Research for Sustainability-2016’’
will be held during June 19–25, 2016, in Pushchino,
Russia. We wish all success to the persons who willserve as the chair and the co-chair, of both the international and local committees. We hope to see everyone
at next conference.

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Photosynth Res

Fig. 8 A photograph of Eleni Koutra, holding her certificate and herbook, with one of us (Kostas Stamatakis)

part of Springer Science?Business Media; the National Center for
Scientific Research ‘‘Demokritos,’’ Agrisera-Antibodies for Plant
Sciences; Photon Systems Instruments (PSI); Hellenic BotanicalSociety, Hansatech Instruments: Instrumentation for Photosynthesis
and Respiration Studies; and the University of Patras. We also thankIneke Ravesloot of Springer, for mailing books to Kostas Stamatakis(Greece) for awards for the best posters. We thank all the members of
local organizing committee for their wonderful work that led to a verysmooth running of our conference. Our special thanks go to Katerina
Panagiotaki and Dimitris Vayenos for their secretarial support for the
conference, and to Dmitry A. Los for the creation and support for the
conference Web site, and to Toshiyuki Shinoda for most of the photographs used here. Misato Teramura and Rajni Govindjee arethanked for Fig. 1 and 8, respectively. SIA is grateful for support by
grants from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research and by the
Molecular and Cell Biology Programs of the Russian Academy of
Sciences. We thank the following, and several others, for sending
additional messages to one of the authors (SIA): Anjana Jajoo (India),James Barber (UK), Marian Brestic (Slovakia), Norio Murata (Japan),
Kimiyuki Satoh (Japan), Kostas Stamatakis (Greece), Rajagopal
Subbramanyam (India), Oksana Sytar (Slovakia), Renata Szymanska(Poland), Tatsuya Tomo (Japan); they are available by writing to oneof us (SIA) at: suleyman.allakhverdiev@gmail.com.

Appendix 1

Fig. 9 George and Sophie Papageorgiou, after the conference inCrete, in Athens. Photo by Rajni Govindjee

We end this News Report by paying special Tribute toGeorge C. Papageorgiou for his contributions to the growthand support of Photosynthesis Research. After the conference, George was seen in a thoughtful and meditativemood, but relaxing, with his wife Sophie, in an open-air
restaurant in Athens (Fig. 9).
Acknowledgments We express our appreciation to all the attendees
for valuable discussions on various aspects of photosynthesis at the2015 conference held in Crete. We thank all the members of theInternational organizing committee for their help with the various
sections, and the committees, mentioned in this report for the selection of the Awardees; further, we are grateful to all the chairpersonsof the poster sessions for their help; and thank all the sponsors: theInternational Society of Photosynthesis Research (ISPR), Springer:123

1. The International organizing committee, in alphaberical order, included the following (those present at the conference have been italicized): Suleyman I. Allakhverdiev(coordinator; from Russia). Eva-Mari Aro (Finland); James
Barber (chairman; from UK;); Barry D. Bruce (USA);
Robert Carpentier (Canada); Richard Cogdell (co-chair; alsopresident of ISPR, from UK); Gyözö Garab (Hungary);
Govindjee (USA); Demetrios Ghanotakis (Greece); Norman
Huner (Canada); Alexander Ivanov (Canada); George
Karabourniotis (Greece); Hazem M. Kalaji (Poland); Kyriakos Kotzabasis (Greece); Olaf Kruse (Germany); Dmitry A.
Los (Russia); Yiannis Manetas (Greece); Anastasios Melis(USA); Norio Murata (Japan); Hong Gil Nam (Korea);
Nathan Nelson (Israel); Peter Nixon (UK); Vasilis Petrouleas(Greece); Seeram Ramakrishna (Singapore); Kimiyuki Satoh(Japan); Jian-Ren Shen (Japan); Kostas Stamatakis (cochair; from Greece); Tatsuya Tomo (secretary; from Japan);and Merope Tsimilli-Michael (Cyprus).
2. The local organizing committee (in alphabeticalorder) included: George Grammatikopoulos; Nikos Ioannidis; Aris Kyparissis; Efi Levizou; George Liakopoulos;
Dimosthenis Nikolopoulos; Anastasia Prombona; Yiola
Petropoulou; Kostas Stamatakis (Chairman); and Dimitris
Vayenos.

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