Prof. Job Boekhoven

Curriculum Vitae

Research

What is life? How did it emerge? Are we alone in the Universe?

To answer these fundamental questions, we believe we must synthesize Life first. 

In the BoekhovenLab, we use experiment and theory to build Life from the bottom up. Our goal is to create synthetic cells that compete with each other for resources and undergo Darwinian evolution. We design and synthesize molecules like lipids, peptides, proteins, and nucleic acids to self-assemble into synthetic cells. We add chemical reagents to form complex mixtures in which synthetic cells compete for scarce resources. We ensure the synthetic cells can replicate and mutate. This replication and selection pressure, combined with mutations, are critical ingredients that will lead us to life from the bottom up… Life as we do not know it (yet). (see research overview)