The Molecular Origins of Life I

  • Type: Lecture (V)
  • Chair: KIT Department of Chemistry and Biosciences
  • Semester: SS 2025
  • Time:

    Thu 2025-05-15
    11:30 - 13:00, weekly
    30.41 Chemie-Hörsaal Nr. 2 (HS2)
    30.41 Chemie-Flachbau (EG)

    Thu 2025-05-22
    11:30 - 13:00, weekly
    30.41 Chemie-Hörsaal Nr. 2 (HS2)
    30.41 Chemie-Flachbau (EG)

    Thu 2025-06-05
    11:30 - 13:00, weekly
    30.41 Chemie-Hörsaal Nr. 2 (HS2)
    30.41 Chemie-Flachbau (EG)

    Thu 2025-06-26
    11:30 - 13:00, weekly
    30.41 Chemie-Hörsaal Nr. 2 (HS2)
    30.41 Chemie-Flachbau (EG)

    Thu 2025-07-03
    11:30 - 13:00, weekly
    30.41 Chemie-Hörsaal Nr. 2 (HS2)
    30.41 Chemie-Flachbau (EG)

    Thu 2025-07-10
    11:30 - 13:00, weekly
    30.41 Chemie-Hörsaal Nr. 2 (HS2)
    30.41 Chemie-Flachbau (EG)

    Thu 2025-07-17
    11:30 - 13:00, weekly
    30.41 Chemie-Hörsaal Nr. 2 (HS2)
    30.41 Chemie-Flachbau (EG)




  • Start: 15.05.2025
  • Lecturer: Dr. Zbigniew Pianowski
  • Lv-No.: 5184
  • Information: Blended (On-Site/Online)

Organisational issues: lecture Thu./Do. 11:30-13:00 HSII, Geb. 30.41 Flachbau Chemie (ab 15.05.2025, 7 lecture units).

Lecture in hybrid format, participants can join on-site or online

Zoom link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84113237549?pwd=lTQzcHX5T5GqZQztAd7sVDdFsIQ1pc.1
Meeting ID: 841 1323 7549
Access code: 422339

First lecture: 15. May 2025, 7 lecture units: 15.05., 22.05., (one week break), 05.06., (two weeks break) 26.06., 03.07., 10.07. and 17.07.

the lecture slides will be available for download shortly before the respective lecture.

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Following topics will be discussed:

Definitions of life – e.g. self-replicating chemical systems that use external energy sources to stay out of the equilibrium;

The origins of atoms and simple molecules - how the Universe, stars, planets, and molecules building them were formed?

Minimal requirements for a habitable environment – under which conditions the known forms of life can exist? Hypothetical other chemistries that could form living systems elsewhere;

The primordial soup – what pool of biologically relevant molecules likely existed on the prebiotic Earth: the Miller-Urey experiment, the formose reaction, prebiotic syntheses of aminoacids, sugars, nucleic acids, nucleotides, and lipids, prebiotic polymerization;

The origins of life – self-replicating systems, metabolism-first vs. gene-first, the “RNA world”, the origins of homochirality;

Formation of protocells – enhancing RNA with polypeptides, establishment of the genetic code, DNA as the enhanced information storage, metabolic networks, membranes;

From molecules to cells – LUCA (Last Universal Common Ancestor), information storage and function – split on different molecules, origins of the genetic code, metabolic networks and lipid membranes;

The history of life on Earth – timeline for LUCA, beginning of photosynthesis and aerobic metabolism, Eukaryotes, multicellular life, extremophilic organisms, habitable worlds outside Earth – current status of knowledge, space exploration programs;

last change: 2025-04-21

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