The study of life's origins on Earth, and possibly elsewhere in the universe, requires an interdisciplinary approach that integrates experimental data and theoretical models from Earth, life, chemical and space sciences. This year's conference will underscore that rich diversity of perspectives, with an emphasis on efforts to understand the ancient transition from geochemistry to biochemistry. Accordingly, the first three days of the conference will highlight recent advances in resolving the key debates regarding life's chemical origins: Did a self-replicating cycle or network of molecules (i.e., metabolism) come first, or was the first life form a self-replicating, information-rich RNA-like polymer? We will also explore the related question: Are the "pioneer metabolism theory" and the "prebiotic soup theory" mutually exclusive, or are there useful hybrid approaches to life's origins? Solutions to these problems are informed by bottom-up studies of prebiotic chemical processes and top-down studies of the most primitive biochemical and genetic features of living and fossil organisms. Thursday's sessions will focus on the essential mechanisms of membrane and polymer self-assembly, as well as the latest efforts to synthesize cellular life, with a keynote address by Lasker Prize winner Jack Szostak of Harvard University. The conference will conclude with a frontier session on alternative biochemistries, especially as they relate to known environments on other planets and moons. Taken together, these sessions will provide a dynamic (and possibly contentious) state-of-the-art summary of the field.

Immediately preceding the GRC, on Saturday, January 19, there will be a Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) for young investigators. Partial travel and registration support for both the GRC and the GRS will be provided to all graduate students and postdocs who participate as presenters in the Gordon Research Seminar.