Session 1: Archaean Chemistry and Earliest Fossils

8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.   

The RNA World and the Molecular Origins of Life
Gerald F. Joyce, The Scripps Research Institute

The Origins of Cellular Life
Jack W. Szostak, Harvard Medical School

Can the Distribution of Protein Domains Shed Light on the Tree of Life?
Russell F. Doolittle, University of California, San Diego

The Earliest Life on Earth
Roger Buick, University of Washington

Proterozoic Life and Environments
Andrew H. Knoll, Harvard University

Session 2: Cells, Cellular Evolution and Protein History

2 – 5 p.m.   

The Tree of Life and Major Transitions in Cell Evolution
Thomas Cavalier-Smith, University of Oxford

The Origin of Eukaryotes
Eugene V. Koonin, National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Institutes of Health

Barking up the Wrong Tree: The Dangers of Reification in Molecular Phylogenetics and Systematics
W. Ford Doolittle, Dalhousie University

RNA Interference May Provide a Window on the RNA-to-DNA World Transition
Phillip A. Sharp, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Evening Lecture, 6 – 7 p.m.   

Feeding and Gloating for More: The Challenge of the New Creationism
Jerry A. Coyne, The University of Chicago

Session 3: Development of Eukaryotic Genetic Capacity and Multicellularity

9 a.m. – 12:20 p.m.   

The Deep Evolutionary History of Eukaryotes Andrew Roger, Dalhousie University

Demonstrating the Sufficiency of Microevolutionary Processes
David Penny, Massey University

Genes and Development: A Comparison of Human and Amphioxus Genomes
Peter W.H. Holland, University of Oxford

Cnidaria and the Evolution of the Bilaterian Body Plans: Insights from an Outgroup
Ulrich Technau, University of Vienna

Session 4: Human Evolution through the Lens of DNA Sequences

1:45 – 5 p.m.

Evolution of Human Populations
L. Luca Cavalli-Sforza, Stanford University School of Medicine

Accelerated Evolution in the Human Genome
Katherine S. Pollard, University of California, Davis

Probing Human Brain Evolution at the Genetic Level
Bruce T. Lahn, The University of Chicago

A Neanderthal Perspective on Human Origins
FAIRFIELD OSBORN MEMORIAL LECTURE
Svante Pääbo, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology