Monday, April 20, Schmid College hosts
Sigma Xi
Distinguished Lecturer
Nicholas Hud
for his lecture “Experimental Investigations of the Origin and Early Evolution of Life” from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. in Argyros Forum Student Ballroom, (AF 119A). This lecture is free and open to the public.

Lecture Description

Evolutionary Chain photo
The principles of evolution are extremely powerful for understanding the relationship between extinct life forms found in the fossil record and contemporary life. The same principles are also helping us to understand the chemical origins of life, for which there are few clues in the fossil record.

The search for the identity of the molecules that first gave rise to life is largely driven by researchers using what are called “bottom up” approaches, studies that often involve laboratory experiments designed to model environments and chemical reactions that are believed to have existed on earth more than 3.5 billion years ago. In contrast, researchers using “top down” approaches draw upon information provided by studies of living cells and their genes to reveal the evolutionary history of living organisms.

A major goal of origins research is to use our knowledge of chemical and biological evolution to uncover a plausible and continuous path from small, abiotic molecules to living cells, a path that would link the discoveries of bottom-up and top-down researchers. Advances made during the past few years are showing the power of these two approaches, and how this combined effort may ultimately reveal the origin of life.

Event Details:

Monday, April 20, 2015
Noon to 1:00 p.m.
Argyros Forum Student Ballroom (119A)
Chapman University, 1 University Drive, Orange CA
FREE and open to the community
Seating is limited – please arrive early

About Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecturer Nicholas Hud


Nicholas Hud is Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is also Director of the NSF-NASA Center for Chemical Evolution.

Prof. Hud has studied the physical properties of DNA and RNA (the chemical sibling of DNA) for over twenty-five years. His research has produced fundamental insights regarding the packaging and functioning of DNA in living cells and viruses. Over the past decade, Prof. Hud’s research has become increasingly focused on questions related to the origin of life, and particularly the origin of RNA. Experiments carried out in his laboratory have provided several clues to how the first molecules of life could have spontaneously formed on Earth more than 3.5 billion years ago.

Prof. Hud received his B.S. degree from Loyola Marymount University and his Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis. He conducted postdoctoral research at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and at UCLA.