Jack W. Szostak
© Mètode 2017 - 92. Online only. Violent universe - Winter 2016/2017
Prof. Jack W. Szostak
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2009
Professor, Department of Genetics, University of Chicago
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
University of Chicage
Talk: The Origin of Life and the Nature of the First Cells
Abstract
Primitive cell membranes must have been sufficiently robust to survive environmental fluctuations, but also sufficiently permeable to allow for essential nutrients such as nucleotides to reach the protocell interior. In addition, the primordial genetic material must have been able to replicate with sufficient speed and accuracy to allow for the transmission of useful genetic information from generation to generation. I will describe recent progress in the development of a laboratory model of a protocell capable of growth and division, and replication of the genetic material in the absence of any evolved machinery.
Biography
Jack W. Szostak is a globally renowned biologist who was awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine alongside Elizabeth Blackburn and Carol W. Greider for their groundbreaking discoveries related to telomeres and telomerase. He is currently a University Professor at the University of Chicago and an Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Born in 1952 in London, United Kingdom, Szostak was raised in Montreal and Ottawa, Canada. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Cell Biology from McGill University in 1972 and later obtained a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Cornell University in 1977. Following his doctoral studies, he began his research at the Sidney Farber Cancer Institute at Harvard Medical School and later became a professor in the Department of Molecular Biology at Massachusetts General Hospital. In 2022, he joined the University of Chicago, where he continues his research.
Szostak’s pioneering work on telomeres and telomerase provided crucial insights into cellular aging and cancer. In addition, he has made significant contributions to understanding the origins of life, particularly in the development of protocells and their self-replicating mechanisms. His research has helped shape modern biology by exploring how simple molecular systems could have led to the emergence of life.
Currently, his work is focused on recreating early Earth conditions to understand how primitive molecules could have assembled into self-replicating structures, a key step in the evolution of life. Szostak’s research provides profound insights into the origins of life on Earth and contributes to the broader understanding of the possibility of life beyond our planet.