Zachary Cohen

I’m interested in the role of primitive membranes during the origin of life on Earth.  My research focuses on the idea that membranes could act as organizing centers for other prebiotically available biomolecules (like amino acids), and potentially catalyze their polymerization.  Unlike many other theories for the origin of life, this model suggests a mechanism for the co-localization of all the major components of life, right from the earliest stages of protocell formation.