The origin of life on Earth and other worlds: A preparatory workshop for ESOF2020

Organizers


INAF - Trieste Astronomical Observatory
International Centre for Theoretical Physics

 


Contact persons

Giovanni Vladilo (INAF-OATs),
Ali Hassanali (ICTP)Abstract

 The workshop is aimed at establishing a regional, national and European network that will lead the organisation of a ESOF 2020 event focussed on the origin of life. Leading experts in the fields of prebiotic chemistry, chemical physics, life sciences, astronomy and astrobiology will be invited. The topics will cover the chemical pathways and physical conditions conducive to the emergence of life on Earth and other habitable worlds. The focus of the initiative is about the cultural, scientific and technological impact of studies on the origin of life.


Dates of the workshop

October 24 - 25, 2018


Venue

The Workshop venue is the Lundqvist Hall at the ICTP Adriatico Guesthouse (https://www.ictp.it/visit-ictp/accommodation/guesthouses.aspx)
Via Grignano, 9, 34151 Trieste, Italy
Tel: (+39) 040 2240 112


Context

The origin of life is one the big questions of the mankind and one of most challenging puzzles to be solved by science. In the past 60 years a large effort has been dedicated to search for plausible chemical pathways leading to the origin of life on Earth, also considering the potential contributions of chemicals assembled in space and delivered on our planet. The detailed exploration of the Solar System and the discovery of thousands of extrasolar planets is giving a strong momentum to investigations aimed at searching for life outside Earth. As a result, times are ripe to address the question about the origin of life in a broader context, trying to understand whether or not life has emerged or can emerge in worlds other than the Earth. The lack of a commonly accepted definition of life calls for a major effort to find universal properties of life that can be used to discriminate the biological and non-biological worlds. In this general context, we believe it is appropriate to plan a ESOF2020 event on the origin of life in the universe for the following reasons: (1) the search for chemical pathways and physical conditions conducive to the emergence of life will require significant advances in hard sciences which may well lead to technological breakthroughs; (2) the search for life beyond Earth has become part of main-stream, top-technology research and is very attractive for the general public; (3) advances in our understanding the origin of life will have a strong cultural impact on all sectors of our society. The organisation of a big event on the origin of life is an ambitious task that requires the establishment of a multidisciplinary network. To this end, we plan to involve astrobiology networks already operating at the national and European level. An effort will also be made to involve the academic and research institutes present in the Trieste area, which cover a broad spectrum of cultural, scientific and technological expertise.

 

Detailed description

In the framework of the origin-of-life studies, the workshop will pursue three goals. The first is to explore the scientific and technological impact that may arise from an advance of our understanding of the molecular processes involved in the origin of life. Far from being a fictional field, many open problems regarding the origin of life have strong overlap with fundamental problems in physical chemistry and chemical physics, such as surface potentials, water in different environments, or air-water interfaces. Tackling this type of problems may well lead to unexpected technological breakthroughs. To explore this technological potential we plan to involve research institutes active in the fields of synthetic biology, biotechnologies and nanotechnologies. The second goal of the workshop is to stimulate new forms of scientific collaboration. For example, we plan to encourage the application of quantum computational physics and molecular simulation techniques in studies of prebiotic chemistry which so far have been based on laboratory experiments. We also plan to expand the astrobiological scope of Solar-System and exoplanets studies, so far focussed on biomarkers and habitability, by introducing the conditions of abiogenesis as an essential ingredient of such studies. The third goal is to develop effective ideas for science-to-public events by combining the experiences of all participants. In this context, we plan to explore the application of state-of-the-art, multi-media techniques aimed at stimulating the involvement of the general public.

Thanks to the establishment of well-defined collaborations on specific projects, the proESOF and ESO2020 events will hopefully trigger long term collaborations between research groups and institutions within different European countries and national regions.

Preliminary program

24 October: 
Session 1: Welcome address & Oral Presentations
9:00 - 13:00 with one coffee break

Session 2: Round table: Establishing a collaborative network of studies on the origin of life
14:30 - 16:45 

25 October:
Session 3: Round Table: Roadmap for the organization of a ESOF2020 event on the origin of life
09:00 - 13:00 with one coffee break

 

Preliminary list of participants:

John Brucato, Julian Chela Flores, Ernesto Di Mauro, Ali Hassanali, Michele Maris, Fabio Pagan, Massimo Ramella, Marco Saitta, Raffaele Saladino, Daniel Segrè, Laura Silva, Judit Sponer, Giovanni Vladilo