Faculty
Philip Bevilacqua
pcb5@psu.edu
814-863-3812
242 Chemistry Building
Distinguished Professor
Department of Chemistry, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Research
“One of the great questions facing humanity is “How did life begin?”
It is thought that RNA may have played a major role in the process through the so-called RNA world hypothesis. We are collaborating with Christine Keating’s lab at Penn State to address physical means that may have aided the emergence of life through the localization and improvement of catalysis. We are evaluating compartmentalization driven by aqueous phase separation as a potential physicochemical mechanism to concentrate and help chaperone the folding, multiple turnover, and evolution of rare catalytic RNA molecules. We are also addressing how compartmentalization may facilitate the assembly of progenitor membranes as a step towards protocell formation. Accomplishing these goals will provide insight into the early evolution of life on this and other planets.”
