Origins Faculty member Juan Perez-Mercader publications
"Starting from a homogeneous blend of non-biochemistry related substances, we use light to start a Polymerization Induced Self-Assembly (PISA) reaction that triggers the boot-up of micron scale chemical systems. After forming, these grow, move, implode, self-reproduce (1) and, for different types (“species”), compete for resources and show (2) their “struggle for existence”.
(1) Albertsen, A., Szymański, J. & Pérez-Mercader, J. (2017): Emergent Properties of Giant Vesicles Formed by a Polymerization-Induced Self-Assembly (PISA) Reaction. Sci Rep 7, 41534 (2017). https://www.nature.com/articles/srep41534
(2) See also Katla, S. K., Lin, C. and Pérez-Mercader, J. (2023): Competitive exclusion principle among synthetic non-biochemical protocells, Cell Reports Physical Science, April 04 (2023), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xcrp.2023.101359