Workshops
Origins of Life Chemistry Workshop, March 20, 2014
- Date
- March 20, 2014
- Time
- 09:00
The Origins of Life Chemistry Workshop is being organized by Albert Fahrenbach and will be held on the first floor of the ELSI building.
The goal of the Workshop is to facilitate interaction between members of ELSI and its Harvard satellite as well as the broader origins community. The workshop will be focused around the role of chemistry in the origin of life, from prebiotic synthesis, to membrane dynamics, to theoretical simulations of complex chemical systems. We aim our attention towards achieving complex artificial molecular assemblies - protocells - composed of nucleotides and peptides encapsulated by fatty acid vesicles which can undergo replication without the aid of modern enzymes in the chemical laboratory. In order to achieve this goal, the question must be addressed, can the nonenzymatic template-directed synthesis of RNA along a parent template occur with sufficient fidelity and rapidity that it can compete with the rate of annealing of parent-daughter strands, in a way that is compatible with the chemistry of fatty acid vesicles? We will discuss our recent experimental and theoretical results.
In total 14 speakers will each give 20 minute talks followed by five minutes for questions. Friends and members of ELSI who want to know more about chemistry but are not familiar with the subject are strongly encouraged to come as the talks will be geared towards a general scientific audience.
Origins of Life Chemistry Workshop
Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology
Thursday 20 March 2014
Session 1: 9‒12 AM
| 9:00‒9:25 | Aaron Englehart Harvard University "Nucleic Acids with Mixed Backbones: Fatal or Beneficial for an RNA World?" |
| 9:25‒9:50 | Kazuaki Amikura ELSI "Construction of biochemistry in primitive cell only using simplified protein" |
| 9:50‒10:15 | Christian Hentrich Harvard University "Dynamic Behavior of Model Protocells Studied by Optofluidics" |
| 10:15‒10:40 | Daishi Fujita University of Tokyo "Arrayed Lipid Bilayer Chambers Allow Single Molecule Analysis of Membrane Transporter Activity" |
| 10:40‒11:05 | Tony Jia Harvard University "Cationic Peptides Decrease Reannealing Rates of Separated RNA Strands" |
| 11:05‒11:30 | Jim Cleaves ELSI "Comparison of Amino Acids Derived from Titan Tholins, Electric Discharge Reactions and Carbonaceous Chondrites"? |
| 11:30‒11:55 | Noam Prywes Harvard University "Mechanistic studies of Nonenzymatic Template-Directed RNA Polymerization" |
Lunch 12‒2 PM
Session 2: 2‒5 PM
| 2:00‒2:25 | Brian Cafferty Georgia Tech "Efficient Monomer Assembly and the Origin of RNA" |
| 2:25‒2:50 | Norio Kitadai ELSI "Thermodynamics of Amino Acid Synthesis and Polymerization" |
| 2:50‒3:15 | Aaron Larsen Harvard University "For Biopolymers: The Spooky Thermodynamic Effects of Nucleobase Modifications" |
| 3:15‒3:40 | Alexis Gilbert ELSI "Molecular fossils of early life on Earth" |
| 3:40‒4:05 | Neha Kamat Harvard University "Inducing RNA Localization to Protocell Membranes with Lipophilically-Modified Nucleotides" |
| 4:05‒4:30 | Nobuto Takeuchi University of Tokyo "On the Roles of Parasites in an RNA World: Evolution of Complexity in Model Replicator Systems" |
| 4:30‒4:55 | Enver Izgu Harvard University "Exploring the Dynamics of Non-Covalent Nucleotide Binding to SS-Nucleic Acid Templates Using NMR Spectroscopy" |
Reception 5‒6 PM