Press Page Hannes Mutschler
Our group is fascinated by the bottom-up creation of systems that mimic natural systems, a field known as biomimetics or biomimicry. In particular, we are interested in the generation of minimal self-replicating systems from reconstructed protein and nucleic acid components and the experimental exploration of the physicochemical requirements that enable the formation of biocatalysts such as catalytic nucleic acids and primitive protocells from non-living matter.
In addition, we recently started to investigate the potential of hybrid RNA-DNA genomes in modern bacteria as part of an European Research Council-Starting Grant. In this project, we are investigating the coupled in vivo and in vitro evolution of synthetic RNA molecules that replicate from a single origin of replication. The long-term goal is to create persistent RNA genomes that can encode core cellular functions in vivo.