Searching for the origins of life
Overview
Our research aims to understand the origin of metabolic chemistry which is a fundamental question in the origin-of-life research field. Metabolism consists of a vast network of reactions that cells use to generate chemical energy and synthesize the essential building blocks of cellular macromolecules. We are specifically interested in the hypothesis that the prebiotic origin of core metabolic processes began with simple but reactive small organic molecules that were present on the early earth before life got its start. The three sub-groups described below are designed to help address our research aims from different sides.
Analysis of Meteoritic Organic Chemistry
Extraterrestrial material such as meteorites and asteroids are pristine remnants of the early solar system dating back over 4.5 billion years. Importantly some of the rare meteorites (called carbonaceous chondrites) contain a wide array of organic compounds demonstrating that organic chemistry was occurring in our solar system even before Earth was a planet. Working with our collaborators at NASA, we actively investigate meteorites and search them for molecules we make in our lab . This helps us establish that the chemistry we study in our group could have actually taken place on the early earth before the emergence of life. Students who work in this research project learn to use the tools of analytical chemistry and analytical instrumentation such as gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to study some of our solar system's oldest organic compounds.
Synthesis of Chemical Standards
Discoveries from the analysis of meteorites or prebiotic experiments can only be made with the utility of well characterized compounds, commonly referred to as chemical standards. Thus an important part of our group’s activities is the synthesis of new prebiotic molecules that are not commercially available. Students who work on research projects in this area learn to apply the tools of synthesis and use instrumentation for molecular characterization (NMR, IR, GC-MS, LC-MS) to generate these chemical standards. Access to these characterized products enables our group to explore their previously inaccessible reactivity.
Investigations in Protometabolic Chemistry
Access to synthesized chemical standards allows us to investigate organic chemistry that could have taken place on the early earth. Specifically, we explore how simple prebiotic reactions could have driven the evolution of a chemical network towards a primitive metabolic system, often termed a protometabolism. Students who work on research projects in this area learn to apply the tools of analytical chemistry and use instrumentation such as liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR), and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to investigate these protometabolic reactions.