Otto, Prof. Sijbren

Sijbren Otto is Professor of Systems Chemistry. He studies ‘chemical evolution’. His research group developed a model system of molecules that can make copies of themselves, and showed that diversity can also occur as a result of the mutation of replicators.

Up to now, chemistry research has primarily focused on developing stable systems. But biological systems depend on development and decay, on synthesis and degradation, and on the succession of life and death. Sijbren Otto wants to know whether these biological principles can also be applied to synthetic chemistry. Self-assembling and self-replicating macromolecules play an important role in that process. Synthetic chemical systems of such molecules could also undergo a Darwinian type of evolution. A first step towards synthesized life, Otto

In 2017, he was awarded a prestigious € 2.5 million ERC grant to investigate the possibilities of synthesizing life de-novo in the lab. Otto hopes to take the next steps to bridge the gap between chemistry and biology by building fully synthetic systems. These systems have the essential elements of life: replication, metabolism and compartmentalization. Up to now, it has not been possible to integrate these characteristics in a fully synthetic system. In 2020, Otto was appointed a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW).

In 2021, Otto was awarded the James Flack Norris Award in Physical Organic Chemistry of the American Chemical Society for his leading contribution to establishing the field of systems chemistry. Besides Sijbren Otto, Ben Feringa is the only Dutch scientist that has received this award (in 2007).

In 2023 the European Research Council has awarded Otto an ERC Synergy Grant of EUR 3.4 million for hisproject 'MINILIFE'.

You can find an overview of Sijbren Otto's work on building artificial life here. Or view a visual story of Sijbren Otto's work here.

More video's

• Synthetic life created in Groningen (Kunstmatig leven gemaakt in Groningen)
• Using chemical evolution to create life in the lab (Leven maken in het lab met chemische evolutie )
  

Previously in the news

• Chemist Sijbren Otto wants to make life out of dead chemical soup in the lab, and is well on his way (in Dutch)
• Building life without DNA: small beginnings may lead to surprising things
• Searching in primordial soup: seventy years after the Miller-Urey-experiment (in Dutch)
• 2023 Izatt-Christensen Award for Prof. Sijbren Otto
• This Groningen lab makes life out of nothing: 'You won't find these molecules in a living cell' (in Dutch)
• Sijbren Otto receives James Flack Norris Award in Physical Organic Chemistry
• Brewing life in the lab (in Dutch)
• Life-emulating molecules show basic metabolism
• Sijbren Otto elected KNAW member
• Complex molecules emerge without evolution or design, RUG/Science Linx, 17 Januari 2019
• Sijbren Otto wins prestigious Royal Society of Chemistry Award, 8 May 2018
• Evolving molecules point to principles of life
• Two ERC Advanced Grants for UG scientists
• Darwin in a test tube
• Sijbren Otto and the Origin of Life
• The origins of chemical species (De oorsprong van chemische soorten)
• Network of scientists in chemistry want to create new life (Netwerk van chemici wil leven maken)
• Grants worth millions for three top researchers from Groningen (Miljoenenpremies naar drie Groningse toponderzoekers)
• ERC Starting Grant for Dr Otto
  

More information and contact

See the profile page and Wikipedia

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