Chemical Synthesis of Life (Biotechnology and Society)

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

// News article describing Hanczyc and Szostak systems. // Paper describing the chemistry behind the movies. // You can skip past the general intro to minute 10 with the slide "Modern Life". // Website further describing the components of Szostak protocells. Read through this as if it were an article.
 * 1) Marchant2011 Marchant, J. "Oil droplets mimic early life." Nature News Feb. 2011. Read Article
 * 1) Hanczyc2011 Hanczyc, M. "The line between life and not-life" TED Talk May 2011. (15 min). Watch on TED.com
 * 2) Toyota2009 pmid=19351200
 * 1) Szostak2011 Szostak, J.W. "Part 1: The Origin of Cellular Life on Earth" iBIology Lecture. July 2011 (55 minutes). Watch on iBiology.org
 * 1) ExploringOrigins Visit Exploring Origins Website

Additional Reading/Viewing

 * 1) Szostak2011b Complete series of three Szostak lectures. Watch on iBiology.org