Jack Szostak | Constraints on the Properties of Promordial Protocells

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. Jack Szostak 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. This talk was given as part of the Leverhulme Centre for Life in the Universe, Annual Talks on 18 March 2025. For more information on the Leverhulme Centre for Life in the Universe, visit www.lclu.cam.ac.uk