Director   James P. Ferris, Department of Chemistry

Associate Directors   Douglas C.B. Whittet, Department of Physics, Applied Physics and Astronomy; and John W. Delano, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, the State University of New York at Albany.

Affiliated Faculty   Michael J. Gaffey, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences; William J. Hagan, Department of Natural Sciences, the College of Saint Rose; Sandra A. Nierzwicki-Bauer, Department of Biology; and Wayne Roberge, Department of Physics, Applied Physics and Astronomy.

The New York Center for Studies on the Origins of Life involves faculty, postdoctorals, graduate students, and undergraduate students from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the State University of New York at Albany, and the College of Saint Rose in education and research programs seeking to understand how life evolved. Some of the major research areas are listed below.

Sources of Organics on the Primitive Earth   Two major hypotheses for the origins of organics on the early Earth are being evaluated in the proposed research, (1) that the organic precursors to life were initially formed in the interstellar medium and, after processing during the formation of the Solar System, were delivered to the Earth’s surface and (2) that a reducing atmosphere formed by volcanic outgassing from a reduced mantle on the primitive Earth was the source of the organic precursors for life.

Interstellar Sources   The organics present in the interstellar medium are investigated by ground based and orbiting observatories in the 2-25 microns wavelength range of the infrared by Douglas C. B. Whittet. These measurements have been made on the Infrared Space Observatory and on ground based observatories in Hawaii and Chile. The high resolving power of these telescopes allows the detection of infrared frequencies characteristic of functional groups in organic molecules.

Formation of the Solar System   Organic molecules formed in the interstellar medium were further transformed in the violent processes that led to the formation of the solar system. Shock waves and short wavelength UV light were produced which altered the organics formed in the interstellar medium. These reactions are modeled by Wayne Roberge using, as the starting point, the organics detected by the infrared observatories.

Reactions During Planet Formation   The next stage of processing of these organics is in the planetesimals formed in the early stages of the formation of planets, moons, asteroids, and comets. These bodies were heated by the radioactive decay and the frozen water in them liquefied. The organics were further altered by the reaction with water and by the radiation from radioactive elements. Meteorites are fragments from asteroids which, together with comets, are believed to have impacted on the primitive Earth and brought these organics with them. These organics are proposed to have been the major source of the starting materials for the origins of life. Michael J. Gaffey is using infrared spectroscopic measurements to investigate the structures of the organics on the outer belt asteroids.

Reduced Gases in the Atmosphere of the Primitive Earth   An alternative pathway for the origin of life is the action of UV light, shock waves, and lightning on reduced forms of carbon, such as methane and carbon monoxide, ammonia, and water that outgassed from the Earth’s upper mantle by volcanoes. This scenario is criticized by some scientists because it is believed that the high flux of solar UV rapidly destroyed these compounds before they could be converted to biomolecules. However, it is possible that the mantle of the primitive Earth was reducing, so that reduced atmospheric gases were continually outgassed from it. The high flux of UV light may have rapidly converted these gases into more complex CHNO-containing molecules that were rained out and were thus protected from further reaction.

The oxidation state of the mantle is being determined by John W. Delano in studies of the oxidation state of Cr and V in ancient rocks. Samples of rocks back to 4 Gyr are being studied by this approach to determine if the upper mantle was ever reducing, and if not, it is unlikely that there were ever emanations of reduced organics and ammonia into the primitive atmosphere.

The proposal that ammonia and reduced organics in the atmosphere were rapidly destroyed by UV light is investigated in laboratory experiments by James P. Ferris. The photochemical transformations in proposed primitive atmospheres is being investigated using a flow photochemical reactor where it is possible to irradiate the low mixing ratios of organics that are likely to have been present in the atmosphere of the primitive Earth. Using a flow reactor makes it possible to obtain sufficient amounts of reactants for their identification and quantification by NMR. These studies will determine the organics formed by photochemical reactions in the atmosphere of the primitive Earth.

The RNA World   The RNA world is proposed to be the first life on Earth where RNA was the most important biopolymer. The emphasis in this research is the prebiotic synthesis of RNA and the search for evidence of the RNA world in the introns of primitive life on the Earth today.

William J. Hagan is investigating the photochemically-promoted phosphorylation of alcohols with nitrite, a possible step in the conversion of nucleosides to nucleotides, the building blocks of RNA. Nitrite is a plausible prebiotic molecule.

James P. Ferris is investigating the mineral-catalyzed formation of RNA from activated mononucleotides, a step towards origin of the RNA world. The research will center on the origin of the RNA world, where RNA or RNA-like molecules have been proposed to be the most important biopolymers in the first life on Earth.

The third emphasis of this part of the research is the search for evidence of the postulated RNA world in the extant life on the Earth today by Sandra A. Nierzwicki-Bauer. If RNA was the basis for the first life on Earth then it may be possible to find vestiges of the sequences of ancient catalytic RNA in the RNA sequences slow growing, deep subsurface microorganisms. The presence of the nucleotide sequence of the Group I intron, which catalyzes the splicing of RNA, will be the object of the search in the introns of the subsurface bacteria.

The Impact History of the Primitive Earth   The proposed extinction of early life by massive impacts on the early Earth is investigated by John W. Delano by determining the timing of impacts on the Moon. This is accomplished by measurement of argon isotope ratios in glasses present in lunar rocks formed by these impacts. This dating will make it possible to determine whether the impact flux was simple (e.g., monotonic decrease through time) or complex (e.g., late cataclysm). If it was monotonic it is likely that the origin of life on Earth occurred much sooner than the 3.9-4.2 Gyr time period generally assumed.

Minor in Astrobiology

The Biology, Biochemistry and Biophysics, Chemistry, Earth and Environmental Sciences and Physics Departments participate in a multidisciplinary minor in Astrobiology for students majoring in these areas or other disciplines. To complete the minor in Astrobiology, a student must take a minimum of 16 credits of course work in this field. These courses include ASTR-4510 Origins of Life: A Cosmic Perspective, and ISCI-4500 Topics in Origins of Life, four credits each, and two semesters of the one-credit course ISCI-4510 Origins of Life Seminar. A further two courses outside the major field of study are also required, selected from the following:

Note the requirement that the two selected courses must be outside the major field of study is reduced to one in the case of a double major, provided both majors are in the primary relevant areas of study (i.e. Biology, Chemistry, Earth and Environmental Sciences, and Physics).