Abstract:
Understanding what life ultimately is and how it emerges in a previously barren planet is one of humanity's largest pending questions. Classical approaches focus mainly on the chemical aspects, such as the non-enzymatic synthesis of relevant organic molecules and how these can condense into more complex ones, or aim to explain the polymer-based emergence of replication and evolution. These questions are certainly important, but such scenarios largely ignore the geological plausibility of their proposed settings and the issue of how and why a given prebiotic chemistry would transition into life as we know it is.
It is clear we need a more holistic approach in the aim to mend the gaps between chemistry, geology, biology, and physics. I present our work which focuses on developing a high-pressure microfluidics reactor in order to simulate the far-from-equilibrium conditions found at Hadean alkaline hydrothermal vents. Using inorganic Fe(Ni)S barriers (mackinawite and greigite) as catalysts we aim to synthesize organics by harnessing free energy in the form of ionic gradients. This primordial mechanism, which could be considered as analogous to ancient biological methanogenesis, could have promoted non-enzymatic CO2 reduction, and thus driven ancient proto-metabolism and life into existence.
Speaker: Dr. Eloi Camprubí-Casas, Research Fellow, Origins Center, Utrecht University
Date: 15 November, 15:30-16:30 at Mishima Hall (ELSI-1)
Host: Shawn McGlynn
Understanding what life ultimately is and how it emerges in a previously barren planet is one of humanity's largest pending questions. Classical approaches focus mainly on the chemical aspects, such as the non-enzymatic synthesis of relevant organic molecules and how these can condense into more complex ones, or aim to explain the polymer-based emergence of replication and evolution. These questions are certainly important, but such scenarios largely ignore the geological plausibility of their proposed settings and the issue of how and why a given prebiotic chemistry would transition into life as we know it is.
It is clear we need a more holistic approach in the aim to mend the gaps between chemistry, geology, biology, and physics. I present our work which focuses on developing a high-pressure microfluidics reactor in order to simulate the far-from-equilibrium conditions found at Hadean alkaline hydrothermal vents. Using inorganic Fe(Ni)S barriers (mackinawite and greigite) as catalysts we aim to synthesize organics by harnessing free energy in the form of ionic gradients. This primordial mechanism, which could be considered as analogous to ancient biological methanogenesis, could have promoted non-enzymatic CO2 reduction, and thus driven ancient proto-metabolism and life into existence.
Speaker: Dr. Eloi Camprubí-Casas, Research Fellow, Origins Center, Utrecht University
Date: 15 November, 15:30-16:30 at Mishima Hall (ELSI-1)
Host: Shawn McGlynn
