Evolution, Astrobiology and Synthetic Biology

"Defining the Common Foundations"

is a "catalysis workshop" now underway at NESC , the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center.

I will not be liveblogging the workshop, schedule looks too intense, but I'll hopefully take random notes of assorted highlights.
The intent of the workshop is to bring together people from assorted related fields, some more distantly related than others, and brainstorm possible synergies and future directions.
Should be interesting.

So far, so good; just the breakfast conversation this morning has "made the trip worthwhile"...

So, Who Am I,
and What Am I Doing Here?

Well, I know who I am, and I guess I am here under my PSARC hat, and as a token astronomer among the synthetic biologists. (oh, yeah, now I remember...).

I am a "blue dot"... evolutionary biologists have green tags, the synthetic biologists are in red.
Uh-oh.

32 participants, ranging from grad students to very senior directors of things, good blend.

Key broad questions to catalyse for future research:

• Where do we come from?
• Where are we going?
• Are we alone?

That should be enough to keep us busy for the next couple of days...
Ok, breaking into details.
This is going to get interesting.

• Life, but not as we know it...

  Can we know it if we see it?

• Ye Cannae Change the Laws of Physics, Jim!

  What can we do with our bio-legos?

• Applications...

  What do we want to do, with our bio-legos?

• Live long and prosper.

  What ought we do, and don't be evil!
  Does synthetic biology need an Asilomar conference at this point?

Damn, This is a good crowd.
We need a Lego (TM) synthetic biology kit.

Ok, we kick off with experimental evolution and computer modeling of evolution: can evolutionary trajectories be predicted, probabilistically, what are the evolutionary metrics...

Forced evolution in the lab.
Computability of evolutionary tracks... hmm.
Evolution on other substrates...
Probability of replication

Hmm, the bio people have a very different view of the utility of mathematical techniques from the physics types.

Expanding the "DNA alphabet"
Resurrecting ancient proteins, reconstructing evolution
Alternative chemistry for life

Random biopolymers
Origin of life, origin of cells
Autocatalysis, probability of function in random short chains, protein function
Archaic lipids and vesicle formation
Genetic circuits, stable genetic networks
Genetic grammar
Design principle for life, better life

Hm, there is a genetic alphabet, and hence a genetic language; some statements are redundant, others are non-functional - is there an underlying simplifying grammar, and hence a rule set for neologisms?
Alternative grammars? eg is there a "Finnish" or "!Kung" for DNA, as opposed to the anglic hodge-podge?
NB: grammar, in this sense, is somewhat orthogonal to the existence of alternative alphabets etc - or is it?

Life is like a box of chocolates
Planetary protection
Panspermia and biogenesis
Early solar system, initial conditions
Role of phosphates, sulphates etc in biogenesis
Mars chambers
Life on Titan
Weird life...

Chemical limits. Systems are finite.
Thermodynamic limits.
Energy constraints.

Philosophy. Phew.
Biology as a lawless frontier...
Zero Force Evolutionary Law - hm, what happens if there is no forcing on natural selection - well you get random walk and a diffusion in genetic space - so increasing diversity in the absence of forcing.

Evoution of complexity - step beyond "Colonies" - (isn't that us? Humans do colonies of colonies..,); devolution of complexity (- again isn't that us? eg devolution of feline brains through domestication)?
Funky.

Universal Biology - beyond contingency

Emergent computation

I am a robot...
Lamarckian evolution of humans - prospective genetic variability

Hm, even with non-forced diffusive evolution, could you get closed cycle or bounded diffusion where you saturate the complexity space and go through a small finite range of possibilities?
Make sample "small evolutionary" systems?

back from lunch and back to full speed:

genetic circuits and engineering self-sustaining systems
extremophiles in space
RNA bioinfoomatics
key regulatory function in global RNA
catalysis
ribosome - stripping it to the bare essentials
universality of ribosome, stability of structure, pre-RNA "box" for confined chemistry

what is the perfect class to be teaching?
wow, that was an orthogonal direction and that got some reaction,
and, yes, it was on topic

Ok, we're going to pick 5 (only five!?!) BIG meta-questions and then breakout.
Then the hard work begins... this is what is known as a "high risk" workshop, we'll see if we reach a conclusion, or at least dinner
(yes, it is a working dinner, goes with the working breakfast and lunch - or brunchinner as the kids say.
Lunner? Is that a word? It ought to be!)
Damn: both lunner and brunchinner are words already, and not just a kommune in Norway.
Who knew.

So, everyone just go read the Sep 2nd (2011) issue of Science...
Tres trendy.

Intro is over: time to choose... we have ~ 30 big topic questions, need to narrow it to 5 key questions or meta-questions and then actually tackle them, more as process for addressing the questions than the actual answers, of course.