Date/Time
Date(s) - 17/09/2019
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
Dr Christian Mayer – University of Duisburg-Essen
What made molecules start to line up, and how did the resulting structures cooperate to form the first living cell?
These processes happened billions of years ago in an unknown location, probably without leaving a detectable trace. Nevertheless, scientists postulate fascinating scenarios which may have initiated this unique process, ultimately leading to our own existence.
Physicochemist Christian Mayer has dealt with elementary molecular structures of life since more than 30 years. In his latest work, he has focused on the question of the origin of life. He is particularly interested in processes which, in laboratory experiments, lead to the evolution of cell-like membrane compartments with increasing functional complexity.
In his talk, Christian Mayer will introduce the scientific problem of the origin of life, will present various competing theories about life’s early chemistry and the formation of the first terrestrial organism. He will introduce the principles of evolution, basically dealing with the question: how can something as complex and well-ordered as life originate from something as primitive and chaotic as the primordial soup? Finally, Mayer will introduce his own experiments on the matter.
Christian Mayer’s work focuses on the spontaneous formation of protocell-like structures under geothermal conditions. It involves experiments leading to a controlled molecular and structural evolution simulating processes which occur at depths around 1 km in the planetary crust. Christian Mayer studied Chemistry at the University of Stuttgart (Germany) and the University of Cincinnati (USA). He earned his PhD degree on reconstituted biological membranes in Stuttgart and initially started an industrial career at Hoechst (Frankfurt, Germany) and Celanese (Winona, USA). In 1996, he returned to an academic environment accepting a professorship at the University of Duisburg. Meanwhile, he is professor at the University campus in Essen (Germany) and is presently heading an initiative on molecular evolution within the German Astrobiological Society.