Sunlight rises over Earth's curved horizon as seen from space, casting bright rays across the planet's cloud-covered surface against a star-filled sky

Origins and Diversification of Life

This two-part meeting series happening Sept. 22-25 explores one of science's biggest questions: how life emerged on Earth and evolved into increasingly complex forms. Sessions examine life's origins as a distinct scientific discipline and the role of compartmentalization in biological innovation. These meetings are satellite events of Georgia Tech Space Week.

About the Meetings

Part 1 of the meeting, Origins of Life, will take place Sept. 22-23. This meeting charts a new course: the Origins of Life as a discipline in its own right, a discipline that builds its own concepts, methods, and standards of explanation alongside existing fields. Part 2, Diversification of Life, will be held Sept. 24-25 and will explore how biology has used compartmentalization to innovate across scales from condensates to communities.

Colorful molecular rendering of a ribosome bound to a strand of messenger RNA against a dark blue background.

Part 1: Origins of Life

Sept. 22-23 | 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Petit Biotechnology Building (IBB), 315 Ferst Drive NW, Suddath Seminar Room 1128
Artistic rendering of a glowing DNA double helix made of colorful particles on a dark background.

Part 2: Diversification of Life

Sept. 24-25 | 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Petit Biotechnology Building, 315 Ferst Drive NW, Suddath Seminar Room 1128

Georgia Tech Space Week

Georgia Tech Space Week, Sept. 22–25, 2026, is a campus-wide celebration of innovation in the space domain.

The week will feature technical sessions, panels, networking events, and community engagement opportunities spanning topics such as space policy, hypersonics, bioastronautics, entrepreneurship, space weather, materials, and more. Bringing together academia, industry, and government, Space Week showcases the full breadth of space research and collaboration happening at Georgia Tech and beyond.

The Origins and Diversification of Life meetings are satellite events of Georgia Tech Space Week. To learn more about the week's central events, abstract submissions, poster awards, and more, visit the website below.