About

The Harvard Origins of Life Initiative nurtures and supports faculty, senior researchers, students, and fellows whose work intersects with the big questions in origins of life research.

The Initiative’s director and co-founder is Astronomy Professor Dimitar D. Sasselov, a prominent figure in exoplanet research. A six-member Steering Committee sets the scientific direction for the Initiative and builds and fosters connections within the University’s science disciplines.

In addition to supporting laboratory and theoretical research, the Initiative’s activities include monthly lecture (Origins Forums) and informal research (Chalk Talk) presentations, symposia, conferences, as well as research awards to undergraduates, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.

Origins members are frequent speakers and lecturers at conferences and events open to non-scientific audiences.

Origins alumni have gone on to establish their own labs in universities and research centers around the world.

The Initiative was founded in 2007 and has grown into a leading center for this new field of origins of life.