Nick Lane (PhD, FRSB, FLS)  is Director, Centre for Life's Origins and
Evolution and Professor of Evolutionary Biochemistry in the Department of
Genetics, Evolution and Environment at University College London (UK)."Why
membrane bioenergetics structures cell evolution from the origin of life to
agency"
April 1st, 2025, 5pm French time (UTC+2) This talk will be hybrid (in
person in Bordeaux; Zoom link below)
Bordeaux Biologie Sante (BBS) Building, Salle Nord, First floor

*Details:* https://www.philinbiomed.org/event/nick-lane/

*Abstract:*
Life is a surprisingly good guide to its own origins in terms of energy
transduction, metabolism and the genetic code. I will give a conceptual
overview of our own work on the origin of life in hydrothermal systems,
avoiding detailed experimental data. I will outline how an early
requirement for membrane bioenergetics to drive CO2 fixation structured
later cell evolution, and specifically the singular origin of complex
(eukaryotic) life on Earth. Finally I will touch on how these ideas give
insights into the physical basis of feelings and their relationship to
agency at the level of cells.

*Professor Lane's research* is on the way that *energy flow has shaped
evolution over 4 billion years*, using a mixture of theoretical and
experimental work to address the origin of life, the evolution of complex
cells and downright peculiar behaviour such as sex. He was a founding
member of the UCL Consortium for Mitochondrial Research
<http://mitochondria.cs.ucl.ac.uk/cfmr/>, and is Co-Director of the UCL
Centre for Life's Origin and Evolution (CLOE)
<https://www.ucl.ac.uk/biosciences/departments/gee/research-centres/ucl-centre-for-life-origins-and-evolution>.
He was awarded the 2009 UCL Provost's Venture Research Prize
<http://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/0910/09102101>, the 2011 BMC
Research Award for Genetics, Genomics, Bioinformatics and Evolution
<http://events.biomedcentral.com/bmc-research-awards/>, the 2015
Biochemical Society Award
<http://www.biochemistry.org/Awards/TheBiochemicalSocietyAward.aspx> for
his outstanding contribution to molecular life sciences and 2016 Royal
Society Michael Faraday Prize and Lecture
<https://royalsociety.org/science-events-and-lectures/2017/02/faraday-prize-lecture/>,
the UK's premier award for excellence in communicating science.

Nick Lane is the author of* five* acclaimed books
<https://nick-lane.net/books/> on evolutionary biochemistry, which have
sold more than 150,000 copies worldwide, and been translated into 25
languages.

*Zoom link: Zoom Nick Lane
<https://u-bordeaux-fr.zoom.us/j/86358907176?pwd=uVPRGfgYgWndYwZf3jZNX9ECSI1ysX.1>*

Sincerely,

Thomas Pradeu
CNRS Research Director in Philosophy of Science
Immunology Unit ImmunoConcEpT, UMR5164, CNRS & University of Bordeaux
Presidential Fellow, Chapman University, CA, USA
Team Leader Conceptual Biology and Medicine Team
<https://immunoconcept.cnrs.fr/conceptual-biology-medicine/>
Coordinator of the Philosophy in Biology and Medicine Network
<https://www.philinbiomed.org/> (PhilInBioMed)

Thomas Pradeu <thomas.pradeu.list@gmail.com>

(to subscribe/unsubscribe the EvolDir send mail to
golding@mcmaster.ca)