The RNA genomes of the first cells are thought to have emerged from the nonenzymatic replication of short RNA strands, which allowed the first ribozymes to evolve, followed by the evolution of ribozyme catalyzed replication. However, no process for the replication of a nucleic acid genome, independent of evolved enzymatic machinery, has yet been described. Dr. Szostak will discuss his laboratory’s recent progress toward the realization of an efficient and accurate system for the chemical replication of RNA. Mechanistic and structural studies have led to new chemical replication systems that are both more prebiotically plausible and more accurate, efficient, and general.
In the 1990s, Dr. Szostak and his colleagues developed in vitro selection as a tool for the isolation of functional RNA, DNA, and protein molecules from large pools of random sequences. His current research interests are in the laboratory synthesis of self-replicating systems and the origin of life.
Dr. Szostak received his B.S. in cell biology from McGill University and his Ph.D. in biochemistry from Cornell University. He is professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Harvard University, and the Alex Rich Distinguished Investigator in the department of molecular biology and the Center for Computational and Integrative Biology at Massachusetts General Hospital. He has been a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator since 1998. Dr. Szostak’s early research on telomere structure and function, and the role of telomere maintenance in preventing cellular senescence, was recognized by the 2006 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award and the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Royal Society of Chemistry, the National Academy of Inventors, and the American Academy of Cancer Researchers.