szostak

The feat would qualify as creation of life in a test tube if it weren't for one thing: Szostak's lab does not rely much on test tubes.

Szostak is trying to construct a pathway that bridges from prebiotic chemical reactions to genetically-driven living matter.

Szostak, the third winner, was born in London and grew up in Canada.

Szostak suggested he study in detail how the membrane grows by incorporating new fatty acids, a step at a time.

It takes literally years of nurturing nucleic acid structures, and chemical disasters occur along that way according to Szostak.

Szostak, Greider and Blackburn thus revealed one of life's basic mechanisms, and paved the way for new medical strategies.

It doesn't change the research per se, of course, but it's lovely to have the recognition and share it with Carol Greider and Jack Szostak.

But Sasselov also knew that if there was anyone in the world who could create a membrane that would work, it was Jack Szostak.

Dr Szostak has already made a range of "ribozymes" , as catalytic pieces of RNA are known in the trade, and some of them are ATP-powered.

Lately, Szostak has been working on the origin of those membranes that somehow came to enclose and protect LUCA and every cell since.

"After we wrote that paper I figured, well, we put these two ideas together, so we'd better do some experiments, " Szostak recalled.

Szostak's experiments demonstrate that the membrane structures needed to build a cell grow easily from fatty acids.

And when that happens, Szostak may finally see how, from initial chaos and randomness, something useful emerges.

Ms. Blackburn and Mr. Szostak discovered the special system of genetic information in the telomeres that protects the chromosomes from ruin.

Szostak of Harvard Medical School has developed nonbiological proteins that bind ATP, an energy-carrying chemical crucial to metabolism.

Since scientists like Szostak think RNA preceded DNA, they've invented ways of pushing RNA to evolve in test tubes.

Szostak's experiments show that cell walls are hardiest at near freezing temperatures.

Elizabeth Blackburn and Jack Szostak discovered that a unique DNA sequence in the telomeres protects the chromosomes from degradation.

Szostak's endeavor is very different from another artificial life project led by biologist and entrepreneur J. Craig Venter.

Blackburn and Szostak discovered that a unique DNA sequence in the telomeres protects the chromosomes from degradation.

Szostak hopes that even attempting to make mirror life could lead to a better understanding of how ribosomes work and cells evolved.

Her work caught the eye of Szostak.

Szostak brings a lot of tools to the project.

Szostak also doesn't care for guessing exactly how life happened the very first time and then duplicating it.

This could only have happened in fresh water ponds, salt water destroys the fatty acids, says Szostak.

Jack Szostak is professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School and a co-recipient of the 2009 Nobel prize in physiology or medicine

Szostak, who solved a major puzzle in biology;