Molecular Origins of Life, Munich 2024

19.07.2024, 08:25 → 20.07.2024, 17:50 Europe/Berlin

LMU Munich - Great (Große) Aula

The Molecular Origins of Life, Munich conference addresses one of the most fundamental questions of science: How could life originate? With 24 talks by renowned scientists accompanied by panel discussions and poster sessions, this international conference brings together scientists from a wide range of disciplines, namely: astronomy, bio-/chemistry, bio-/physics, geosciences and theoretical chemistry and physics. Together, we pave the way towards answering some of the most pertinent questions of humankind: What were the conditions on early Earth? Which chemicals could serve as precursors for the synthesis of living systems? How did the very first genetic material develop? How could Darwinian evolution emerge? What were the first metabolic pathways? The conference's aim is to represent and to discuss the state of the art in the Origin of Life field. 

The Molecular Origins of Life Munich 2024 is organized by DFG funded Collaborative Research Center 392 Molecular Evolution in Prebiotic Environments. Attendance to the event is free of charge.

Registration is mandatory to be able to attend the event.

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Fr., 19. Juli ¶

08:25 → 08:30 Opening Remarks

08:30 → 09:45 Session A¶

08:30 Spatial and temporal dynamics of fluid-rock interactions promoting organic synthesis in the terrestrial lithosphere¶

Sprecher: Bénédicte Menez (IPG, Paris)

08:55 Engineering a synthetic protocell with RNA origami¶

Sprecher: Kerstin Göpfrich (Heidelberg U.)

09:20 Before cells: Prebiotic compartments based on phase separation and molecular self-assembly¶

Sprecher: Christine Keating (Penn State U.)

09:45 → 10:05 Session A: Discussion¶

10:05 → 10:30 Coffee Break

10:30 → 11:45 Session B¶

10:30 A Mechanistic Approach to Prebiotic Chemistry: Coenzymes, Chirality, and Catalysis¶

Sprecher: Robert J. Mayer (TUM)

10:55 Probing the Origin of the Genetic Code by High-Throughput Sequencing¶

Sprecher: Andres Jäschke (Heidelberg U.)

11:20 Phase separation directs polymerization and selects sequences¶

Sprecher: Christoph Weber (Universität Augsburg, DE)

11:45 → 12:05 Session B: Discussion¶

12:05 → 13:30 Poster Session I¶

13:30 → 14:45 Session C¶

13:30 Cyclicphospholipids in the emergence of primitive (functional) protocells¶

Sprecher: Ramanarayanan Krishnamurthy (Scripps Research)

13:55 The role of crystallization in prebiotic polymerization processes¶

Sprecher: Judit E. Šponer (IBP)

14:20 Atmospheric HCN production and the emergence of the RNA world on early Earth¶

Sprecher: Ralph Pudritz (McMaster University)

14:45 → 15:05 Session C: Discussion¶

15:05 → 15:30 Coffee Break

15:30 → 16:45 Session D¶

15:30 Is the Enantiomeric Excess in Meteorites (truly) the Missing Link to Understanding Biomolecular Homochirality?¶

Sprecher: Cornelia Meinert (U. Côte d'Azur)

15:55 Possible roles of peptides in early life¶

Sprecher: Klára Hlouchová (Charles U.)

16:20 Empowering Nucleic Acid Evolution with Expanded Genetic Alphabets¶

Sprecher: Elisa Biondi (FfAME)

16:45 → 17:05 Session D: Discussion¶

17:05 → 17:10 Closing Remarks

Sa., 20. Juli ¶

08:25 → 08:30 Opening Remarks

08:30 → 09:45 Session E¶

08:30 Role of helicity in the nonenzymatic template-directed primer extension of DNA¶

Sprecher: Amanda Ellis (University of Melbourne, AU)

08:55 Hadean Earth Recipes¶

Sprecher: Stephen J. Mojzsis (Hungarian Academy of Sciences, HU)

09:20 Organic cofactors as connection between minerals and protometabolism?¶

Sprecher: Martina Preiner (MPI for Terrestrial Microbiology)

09:45 → 10:05 Session E: Discussion¶

10:05 → 10:30 Coffee Break

10:30 → 11:45 Session F¶

10:30 Nucleic Acid Replication Enabled by Wet-Dry Cycles: A Robust Solution to the Product Inhibition Problem¶

Sprecher: Martha Grover (Georgia Tech)

10:55 Exploring the habitability of ocean moons by in situ analysis of emitted ice grains¶

Sprecher: Frank Postberg (FU Berlin)

11:20 Impacts of Environmental Parameters on Prebiotic Organic Reactions in Hydrothermal Systems¶

Sprecher: Laurie Barge (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, USA)

11:45 → 12:05 Session F: Discussion¶

12:05 → 13:30 Poster Session II¶

13:30 → 14:45 Session G¶

13:30 Towards Recreating a Metabolic Origin of Life¶

Sprecher: Joseph Moran (U. Ottawa)

13:55 Toward an autonomous “artificial cell” in 2D¶

Sprecher: Roy Bar-Ziv (Weizmann Institute of Science, IL)

14:20 Shaping early life: the chemistry of primitive compartments¶

Sprecher: Claudia Bonfio (U. Strasbourg)

14:45 → 15:05 Session G: Discussion¶

15:05 → 15:30 Coffee Break

15:30 → 16:45 Session H¶

15:30 Challenging the Discontinuous Synthesis Model to Make Prebiotic Polyribonucleic Acid¶

Sprecher: Steven Benner (FfAME)

15:55 Template-based copying in dynamic combinatorial libraries out of equilibrium¶

Sprecher: Job Boekhoven (TUM, Germany)

16:20 Self-Assembly and Non-Enzymatic Polymerization of Plausible Proto-Nucleotides: A Model for Monomers and Polymers that Preceded RNA¶

Sprecher: Nicholas Hud (Georgia Institute of Technology, USA)

16:45 → 17:05 Session H: Discussion¶

17:05 → 17:10 Closing Remarks