With support from Journal of Molecular Evolution and its editorial board, we are proud to organize: "JME: A Road to LUCA - Filling the gap between prebiotic chemistry and life as we know it", our special topics meeting in astrobiology. The meeting will beheld at the campus of Charles University in Prague (Czech Republic), June 15-17, 2026. The symposium will focus on hypothetical routes to the emergence of the cellular life from which we are descended, including the emergence of early metabolism and of cellular structures. The aim of the symposium is to bring together astrobiologists, (geo)chemists, biochemists, evolutionary biologists, and other interdisciplinary scientists to tackle the question of what possible routes to early metabolism and cellular life were available on Earth and why LUCA had the biology that it did. The symposium will therefore focus not only on the gap between prebiotic chemistry and life as we know it but also on possible alternatives to our ancestral forms of life. The conference will include editors from the Journal of Molecular Evolution, but also contributed talks and posters from meeting registrants. We look forward to welcoming you to Prague. More details and registration information for the conference can be found on the conference website: https://natur.cuni.cz/en/aroadtoluca. David Liberles and Klara Hlouchov� David A Liberles (to subscribe/unsubscribe the EvolDir send mail to golding@mcmaster.ca)