Arthur Charles-Orszag Receives Hypothesis Fund Award to Study the Origins of Complex Life
Arthur Charles-Orszag, an assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, has received a Hypothesis Fund award to support research exploring one of biology's enduring mysteries: how the first complex cells evolved.
His project, "New models to study the cell biology of oxygen-adapted archaeal-bacterial symbiosis," was selected for its innovative approach to investigating the evolutionary relationship between archaea and bacteria and its potential to advance understanding of the origins of eukaryotic life.
The Hypothesis Fund supports early-stage basic research that explores novel scientific ideas before preliminary data are available. The program provides seed funding for projects with the potential to open new areas of scientific inquiry.
Charles-Orszag's research focuses on archaea, one of the three domains of life. Scientists believe that more than two billion years ago, an archaeal cell formed a symbiotic partnership with a bacterium, eventually giving rise to the mitochondrion and the first eukaryotic cells—the ancestors of all plants, animals and fungi. Despite its importance, many of the cellular events underlying this transition remain poorly understood.
One challenge is that many model archaeal species live in extreme environments, making them difficult to study using conventional imaging techniques. Charles-Orszag's laboratory develops new tools to observe these organisms under physiological conditions while combining imaging, genetics, biochemistry and computational approaches to investigate fundamental questions in archaeal cell biology.
In announcing the award, Hypothesis Fund Scout Dan Fletcher said the project challenges the long-held assumption that the origin of mitochondria was a unique event in Earth's history. Instead, he said, Charles-Orszag's work seeks to transform the study of eukaryogenesis "from a speculative, historical narrative into a live, tractable laboratory discipline." Fletcher added that, if successful, the research "will fundamentally change the study of evolutionary biology by providing a new framework to investigate the genesis of complex life."