ORIGIN OF LIFE RESEARCH AWARD
$50,000 AWARD FOR BEST PROPOSAL
$2,000,000 in Potential Research Funding
The sponsor named below is offering an award of $50,000 for the
best original proposal pertaining to the study of the origin of life on
Earth, including an outline of work to be performed in support of the
proposal. Multiple awards may be made. "Life" is defined here as a
self-sustained chemical system capable of undergoing Darwinian
evolution. The proposal should take into account the conditions,
materials, and energy sources believed to have existed on the prebiotic
Earth. Submissions should provide a cogent hypothesis for how life first
arose, including its plausible chemistry, and for how primitive life
could have evolved to modern biological cells, including the present
genetic material and metabolism. Submitters are encouraged to offer
unconventional hypotheses that nonetheless can be subject to
experimental validation. Specific questions to be addressed include:
- What were the nature and genesis of the first macromolecules on
the prebiotic earth? How did the building blocks that comprise these
macromolecules become available and how were they assembled?
- How did prebiotic molecules first acquire the capacity for storing genetic information and how did the genetic machinery evolve?
- At what stage in the origin of life did cells originate, and what did they contain? How did those primitive cells evolve to
modern biological cells?
- What was the chemistry of the first metabolic pathway(s) and how did that metabolism evolve to modern cellular metabolism?
- At what stage did proteins become involved in metabolic processes
and how did the link first arise between genetic molecules and other
functional molecules, such as enzymes?
All submissions will be reviewed by a panel of scientific
experts. Submissions should contain a statement of work to be performed
and a letter of institutional support where appropriate. Submissions
that suggest a multidisciplinary approach should describe how the
necessary research capabilities will be provided. Submissions that rely
on extraterrestrial sources of key materials must describe in detail how
those materials would have been generated. Submissions involving the
supernatural or that violate physical laws will not be considered.
Submissions that are deemed highly meritorious by the reviewing panel
will be eligible for additional research funding of up to $2,000,000
over a multi-year period, at the discretion of the sponsor.
Electronic submissions are requested. All submissions shall be in
English (minimum 10 point type) and limited to 10 single-spaced pages,
including figures, but excluding citations. Submissions will be accepted
beginning July 1, 2011, with a final deadline of December 31, 2011. The
confidentiality of all proposals will be protected using guidelines
established by the U.S. National Science Foundation. The winner(s) will
be announced and the award(s) will be made early in 2012. Until that
time, the funds for the award are being held in a trust account by the
law firm of Hurley Re, PC. Confirmation may be obtained by email to: OriginofL...@hurley-re.com.
To make a submission, please follow the Instructions for Submissions.
Harry Lonsdale
Sponsor
www.originlife.org
My
goal in supporting Origin of Life research is to help scientists solve
one of the great remaining problems in biology. A solution will give
every science teacher in the world, from high school to college, a
fundamental understanding of how life probably began on the Earth. In
time, the world will learn that the laws of chemistry and physics, and
the principle of evolution by natural selection, are sufficient to
explain life's origin.
-- Harry Lonsdale
