She received a B.A. in chemistry and an M.D.-Ph.D. in biophysics from Harvard, working with Jack Szostak on protocell membranes. She studied nucleic acid replication and evolution in early life as a Bauer Fellow in systems biology at Harvard. She has received the Searle Scholar award, NIH New Innovator award and the David White award for outstanding contribution in astrobiology from the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life. She has been a SCOL Investigator since 2013.