Chemical Synthesis of Life (Biotechnology and Society 2016)

Required Reading/Viewing
We'll discuss two different types of chemically synthesized "protocells".


 * The line between life and not-life Martin Hanczyc TED Talk May 2011. (15 min).
 * Exploring Life's Origins website Read the three main pages linked by the titles Nucleic Acids, Fatty Acids, and Protocells to learn about the Szostak protocell model. Watch the short embedded movies.

Additional Resources

 * Exploring Life's Origins Main Website – includes several other interesting sections on prebiotic chemistry and the RNA World.

Required Reading/Viewing

 * Toyota, T., et al. (2009) Self-propelled oil droplets consuming "fuel" surfactant. J Am Chem Soc 131:5012-5013. Paper describing the chemistry behind the movies shown in the TED Talk.
 * Hanczyc M.M. (2014) Droplets: Unconventional Protocell Model with Life-Like Dynamics and Room to Grow. Life 4:1038–1049.
 * Lagzi I., et al. (2010) Maze solving by chemotactic droplets. J Am Chem Soc 132:1198–1199.

Additional Resources

 * Maze solving by chemotactic droplets movies

Required Reading/Viewing

 * The Life Force Robert F. Service Science Nov 2013. Interview with Szostak explaining experiments.
 * Part 1: The Origin of Cellular Life on Earth Jack Szostak iBiology Lecture July 2011 (55 minutes). You can skip past the general intro to minute 10 with the slide "Modern Life".

Additional Resources

 * Blain, J.C., Szostak, J.W. (2014) Progress toward synthetic cells. Annu Rev Biochem 83:615–640. Provides a very complete account of this research.