Episode 27: Kate Adamala, Synthetic Biologist and a professor of genetics at the University of Minnesota

Kate Adamala is a synthetic biologist and a professor of genetics at the University of Minnesota. Her work includes contributions to the field of astrobiology, synthetic cell engineering and biocomputing. Kate's research on prebiotic RNA replication provided an experimental scenario for the RNA world hypothesis of the origin of life. She has worked on constructing liposome bioreactor synthetic cells. She is a founder and steering group member of the Build-a-Cell Initiative, an international collaboration for the creation of synthetic live cells. She is a co-founder of the synthetic cell company Synlife. Adamala and Szostak demonstrated non-enzymatic RNA replication in primitive protocells are only possible in presence of a weak cation chelator like citric acid, providing further evidence for the central role of citric acid in primordial metabolism.