Biology W4205
Origins of Life
Geoffrey Zubay
753 Fairchild
854-4578
zubay@cub.bio.columbia.edu
Office Hours: TBA
Class Information:
room |
800 Fairchild
|
time |
2:10 - 4:00pm
|
day |
Thursday
|
call # |
77529 |
Few areas of human inquiry are more thought provoking than the origin of
life. When I first read about experiments in this field many years ago it seemed
like serious experiments designed to test various theories were all too vague or
inaccessible. It was in the early 1980's that I began to see the light as a
result of experiments by Tom Cech and Sid Altman, which demonstrated that RNA
had the capacity to serve as a catalyst for its own modification. Since then
there has been a tremendous effort exerted to determine how the first RNA's were
made and what functions they had. My course on the origin of life starts with a
few lectures on the origin of the universe and the formation of the earth as a
habitable planet. This is followed by a brief consideration of the basic
principles of biochemistry which must have been important in the first living
things. The main topic of this course is the prebiotic chemistry and the
chemistry of early life forms. Finally the subject of evolution is treated in
very basic terms. I use my textbook in this course (Origins of Life on the Earth
and in the Biosphere), which is supplemented by recent papers from the
scientific literature.
See the course
syllabus.
Since this subject is multidisciplinary, students from all
science and engineering departments will be welcome.
It is recommended that students who take this course have some background in
introductory biology and a year of college chemistry. Undergraduates with some science background are also
invited. If in doubt call me.