Biosignatures & Paleobiology

NAI "Workshop Without Walls" on Molecular Paleontology and Resurrection: Rewinding the Tape of Life

By Keith Cowing
November 4, 2010

A three-day workshop using NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI) remote communications tools, on “Molecular Paleontology and Resurrection: Rewinding the Tape of Life,” will be held on 8, 9 & 10 November 2010. Real-time participation requires only an internet connection and is available to interested scientists from around the world. Participants will discuss “top down” origin of life research, which will ultimately allow us to rewind the evolutionary record of biochemical processes and assemblies.

Organized by John Peters and Loren Williams, PIs of the NAI’s Montana State University and Georgia Tech teams, a primary goal of the workshop is to foster new interdisciplinary collaborations across the community.

Session topics will include

* Phylogenetic Studies on Key Enzymes Involved in Information Pathways and Metabolism
* The Evolutionary History of Protein Synthesis
* Minerals to Enzymes, Bridging the Gap Between Metal-Based Abiotic and Biological Chemistry
* Phylogenetic Reconstruction/Resurrection, A Glimpse into Extinct Biochemistry
* What Can Modern Biological Energy Transformation Systems Tell Us About Conditions on the Early Earth?
* Linking the Evolutionary Record to the Geological Record

The workshop is open to the worldwide science community and is accessible via internet browser. To receive information on how to connect to the workshop, register on the NAI website: http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/nai/ool-www/ . [Source: NAI]

Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Station Payload manager/space biologist, Away Teams, Journalist, Lapsed climber, Synaesthete, Na’Vi-Jedi-Freman-Buddhist-mix, ASL, Devon Island and Everest Base Camp veteran, (he/him) 🖖🏻