NUMEV Seminar: “Physical Assembly of Life-Like Systems”

By Jean-Christophe Baret.
Triolet Campus, Building 36, Lecture Hall 3 – Place Eugène Bataillon, 34090 Montpellier.

The NUMEV Seminars are open to a wide audience of researchers from all disciplines who wish to learn more about the current research areas of the NUMEV-MIPS community (Mathematics, Computer Science, Physics, and Systems) or about opportunities to develop their skills and expertise.

Physical Assembly of Life-Like Systems

Jean-Christophe Baret, Soft Micro Systems – CRPP, CNRS & University of Bordeaux

Abstract

In exploring the transition between inanimate matter and living matter, it seems reasonable to suggest that soft matter and elementary self-assembled and self-organized systems played a role in the emergence of life. But as Oparin noted,“Natural selection has completely wiped out all intermediate forms of organization—from primary colloidal systems to the simplest living organisms.”

The goal of our research group is to construct artificial systems, integrate them, and assemble them into living systems. Our approach is based on identifying the essential features and properties of living systems and re-engineering them into minimal systems. Among the key functions of life, we focus on metabolism using a minimalistic approach in which we integrate functions into compartments. These take the form of vesicles, droplets, and membraneless organelles (1–3) and function under non-equilibrium conditions.

References

1. "Out-of-equilibrium microcompartments for the bottom-up integration of metabolic functions," by T. Beneyton, D. Krafft, C. Bednarz, C. Kleineberg, C. Woelfer, I. Ivanov, T. Vidakovic-Koch, K. Sundmacher, and J.-C. Baret, *Nature Communications*, 9:2391 (2018)
2. Sequential bottom-up assembly of mechanically stabilized synthetic cells using microfluidics, M. Weiss, J. P. Frohnmayer, L. T. Benk, B. Haller, J.-W. Janiesch, T. Heitkamp, M. Boersch, R. B. Lira, R. Dimova, R. Lipowsky, E. Bodenschatz, J.-C. Baret, T. Vidakovic-Koch, K. Sundmacher, I. Platzman & J. P. Spatz, Nature Materials, 17, 89–96 (2018)
3. Light-powered CO₂ fixation in a chloroplast mimic with natural and synthetic components, T. E. Miller, T. Beneyton, T. Schwander, C. Diehl, M. Girault, R. McLean, T. Chotel, P. Claus, N. Socorro Cortina, J.-C. Baret, T.J. Erb, Science 368, 6491, pp. 649–654 (2020)

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