Sept. 22-23, 2026
Georgia Tech | Parker H. Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience
Suddath Seminar Room 1128 (unless otherwise noted)
Tuesday, September 22
| 8:30 a.m. | Continental breakfast | Check-in | Poster Setup | ||
| 9 a.m. | Welcome and Introduction | Dean Susan Lozier, College of Science, Georgia Tech | |
| Loren Williams, Georgia Tech; Frank Rosenzweig, Georgia Tech | |||
Session I: The Nature of the Problem
| 9:30 a.m. | "Toward an Integrated Theory of the Origin of the Central Dogma through Chemical Evolution" | Anton Petrov | School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Tech |
| 10 a.m. | "Proto-Peptide Assembly and the Chemical Origins of Backbone Selection" | Moran Frenkel-Pinter | Institute of Chemistry, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem |
| 10:30 a.m. | "Automating Chemical Evolution through Wet-Dry Cycling of Amino Acid/Alcohol Mixtures to Form Protocells" | Sarah Maurer | Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute |
| 11 a.m. | Flash Talks | ||
| 11:30 a.m. | Panel Discussion | ||
| 12 p.m. | Lunch - Nerem Atrium | ||
Session II: Logical Constructs and Paradoxes
| 1 p.m. | "The Sweet Origins of RNA" | Jessica Bowman | School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Tech |
| 1:30 p.m. | "The Blinded by Biology (BBB) Syndrome in Chemical Origins of Life Studies" | Ram Krishnamurthy (PCE3) | Department of Chemistry, Scripps Research Institute |
| 2 p.m. | "How Wet–Dry Cycling Ratchets Prebiotic Chemistry Far from Equilibrium" | Pau Capera Aragones | Georgia Tech |
| 2:15 p.m. | "Chemical Evolution in Silico" | Arsh Suri | Georgia Tech |
| 2:30 p.m. | "From Chemical Signatures to Synthesis Pathways: Agentic AI for Origins-of-Life Research" | Amirali Aghazadeh Mohandesi | Georgia Tech |
| 3 p.m. | "Persistent Liquid Droplets from Deliquescence: Compartments for Prebiotic Chemistry" | Paul Bracher | St. Louis University |
| 3:30 p.m. | Panel Discussion | ||
| 4 p.m. | Poster Session - Nerem Atrium | ||
| 6 p.m. | Adjourn | ||
Wednesday, September 23
| 8:30 a.m. | Continental breakfast | ||
Session III: RNA, Vents, Metabolism, Compartments and Information
| 9 a.m. | "RNA as a Privileged Outcome of Chemistry on Rocky Planets, Including Mars" | Stephen Benner | Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution (FfAME) |
| 9:30 a.m. | "Prebiotic Formation of Adenosine from Barbituric Acid C-Riboside and Its Assemblies by Ribosyl Transfer" | César Menor-Salván | Department of Biochemistry, Universidad de Alcalá, Madrid |
| 10 a.m. | "Prebiotic Chemistry in Planetary Environments" | Zoe Todd | Departments of Chemistry and Astronomy, University of Wisconsin, Madison |
| 10:30 a.m. | "Navigating Chemical Space: Alphabet Expansion in Evolving Nucleic Acid Catalysts" | Elisa Biondi | Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution (FfAME) |
| 11 a.m. | "Peptide Oligomers Containing Melamine and Cyanuric Acid as Recognition Units That Form Stable Assemblies with Watson-Crick-like Base Pairs: A Candidate for Proto-RNA" | Nicholas Hud | Georgia Tech |
| 11:30 a.m. | Panel Discussion | ||
| 12 p.m. | Lunch - Nerem Atrium | ||
Session IV: A Way Forward
| 1 p.m. | "Where the Sidewalk Ends: How Much Can Origin of Life on Earth Principles Translate to Other Worlds?" | Christopher House | Pennsylvania State University |
| 1:30 p.m. | "The Semantics of Prebiotic Chemistry – Building Blocks Are BS" | Karyn Rogers (PCE3) | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute |
| 2 p.m. | "Biogenesis through Ordinary Moves: The Problem of the Macromolecules" | Eric Smith | Earth Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology |
| 2:30 p.m. | Break + Posters | ||
| 2:45 p.m. | "What Is Chemical Evolution, and How Can We Study It in the Lab?" | David Baum | University of Wisconsin, Madison |
| 3:15 p.m. | "We Cannot Explain the Origins of Life without Chemical Evolution" | Loren Williams | Georgia Tech |
| 3:45 p.m. | Panel Discussion A | ||
| 4:15 p.m. | Panel Discussion B and Closing Remarks | ||
| 4:45 p.m. | Adjourn | ||