Determine the General Principles Governing the Organization of Matter into Living Systems Use laboratory and computational approaches to establish the general physical and chemical principles that lead to the emergence of living systems under different conditions in the universe.
Terrestrial life is based on the chemistry of carbon moderated by liquid water.
Such organic chemistry is common throughout the cosmos. Having only one example, we do not know which properties of life are general and necessary, and which are the result of specific circumstances or historical accident. We seek these answers by pursuing laboratory experimental approaches and computational theoretical approaches. The molecular machinery leading to the origin of life on other planets might well be substantially different from the one that formed on the early Earth because the remarkable versatility of organic chemistry offers multiple solutions for the basic requirements of life. Life on Earth represents only one example of living systems.