Talk
Thursday, December 2nd, 2010
- Speaker
- E.W. Meijer
- Affiliation
- Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands
- Title
- Why we cannot make life
- Location
- Amph. "Maria Manassaki", Students' Center
- Time
- 16:00
- Language
- English
- Abstract
-
"The origin of life on earth" is without doubt one of the most intriguing scientific topics, while the wish to create life in a laboratory is amongst the most difficult challenges. The enormous progress in science and technology offers many answers to the miracles of living systems. On the one hand, we can clone sheep, grow organs from stem cells, while cells, plants, and bacteria have been modified genetically. On the other hand, the synthesis of small and large molecules has become so sophisticated that almost every molecule that exists on earth can be made in a laboratory, including long strands of DNA, proteins and complex drugs that can cure diseases. These many insights, however, also show the complexity of the molecular cell biology and as a result the astonishment over how life could originate increases. The lecture will illustrate the greatest challenges seen in the understanding of the origin of life and show that it will take very, very long before a living cell out of his individual components can be made in a laboratory. Special attention will be given to the self-organization of complex supramolecular systems, being a critical step in the building process.
- Flyer