Abstract - My group members and myself are interested in the energy cycles of prebiotic molecular networks and metabolism. To be able to explore such networks, we have developed methods that combine heuristic reaction rules with quantum chemical calculations to be able to explore quickly the highly-dimensional potential energy surfaces associated with these reactions. We have explored the formose reaction and compared its network properties to those of metabolic networks. We also have explored the non-enzymatic reverse tricarboxilic acid cycle to determine its uniqueness amongst other possible metabolic cycles that could have arisen in early non-enzymatic metabolic scenarios. I will finish by discussing our database development and modeling capabilities that could be implemented with the hopes of integrating with the initiative in potential collaborations.

Alán Aspuru-Guzik
Professor
Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology
Harvard University
http://aspuru.chem.harvard.edu