Sean Zsoldos, undergraduate student in the Penn State Eberly College of Science, worked on the project "Prebiotic Phosphorylation Under Wet-Dry Cycling in the Presence of Coacervates" last summer with support from an Erickson Discovery Grant.
With the mentorship of Distinguished Professor of Chemistry Christine Keating, Sean explored the unknowns surrounding Earth’s first living cells.
In a project report, Sean wrote, "In recent years, chemical processes involving Earth’s prebiotic environment have been studied to further understand the origin of life. After many unsuccessful attempts, phosphorylation via wet-dry cycling was achieved after observing 31P-NMR results. To aid in driving the reaction, prebiotic catalysts cyanate and imidazole were employed. Alternative to the literature, the performed experiment completed the reaction in a "one-pot” method, minimizing human interaction. This allowed for a more plausible prebiotic simulation. In the future, this process will be studied even more to investigate phosphorylation of other biological nucleophiles."
Students hoping to explore or build on literature in their area of interest are encouraged to apply for Erickson Discovery Grants that support summer 2024 projects before the deadline on Sunday, February 11 at https://lnkd.in/eCPxKRkv. #PennState