Ancient Biology
@KacarLab
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Origins & Early Life Laboratory at the @UWMadison Account managed by the lab. 🦋 ➡️ https://t.co/Ipy4aKRtg2
Madison, WI
Joined June 2020
🧪🪐 Big week for ancient nitrogen! Checkout these three papers from our lab: 1️⃣ Rucker et al.: Engineered ancient nitrogenases to trace 2 billion years of biosignature reliability ➡️ https://t.co/JT7HJVeZfH
biorxiv.org
Nitrogen isotope fractionation (ε15N) in sedimentary rocks has provided evidence for biological nitrogen fixation, and thus primary productivity, on the early Earth. However, the extent to which...
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By bridging molecular, ecological and planetary scales, planetary microbiology illuminates life’s past while critically informing strategies for the environmental and exploration challenges of our future. Read the #AppEnvMicro editorial: https://t.co/egJbeOPJC1
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By studying the way life once endured a frozen, unstable planet, @NASA astrobiologist @betulland is hoping to find clues for how we might face environmental challenges today—and prepare for what’s coming next.
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The goal of a PhD is not to learn some facts or read a few papers or learn a bunch of techniques. The goal of a PhD is to learn independence, problem solving, how to finish things you start, resilience, & gain the ability to adapt & think creatively. Learning these things is hard
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At Breakthrough Discuss 2025, Betül Kaçar (@UWMadison & @NASA ) explored “Ancient Biological Signatures,” revealing how resurrecting Precambrian enzymes in living cells reveals Earth’s early biosignatures. Her innovative fusion of synthetic biology and ancestral reconstruction
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A day to remember: @PBS visited our lab to film a documentary on life's history. We explored everything - microbes, ancient rocks and engineered plants & more! So lucky to share what we learn and love. Huge thanks to @UWBact and @UWMadison community for the support! Onward!
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🚨 Our new Origins Chemistry Database in the spotlight! Preprint link:
ChemOrigins: A community curated database for origins of life chemistry １．ChemOrigins is a new open-access, community-curated knowledge graph focused on prebiotic chemistry. It organizes over 300 experimentally supported chemical reactions linked to the origin of life,
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ChemOrigins: A community curated database for origins of life chemistry １．ChemOrigins is a new open-access, community-curated knowledge graph focused on prebiotic chemistry. It organizes over 300 experimentally supported chemical reactions linked to the origin of life,
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🚨New preprint! Origins of life research is fragmented across disciplines. We built #ChemOrigins, a community curated searchable database of experimental prebiotic chemistry. Read ➡️ https://t.co/INlO81fvUb Visit ➡️ https://t.co/AkYvYeLxOn For feedback contact: @BrZuviria!
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🚨New preprint! Origins of life research is fragmented across disciplines. We built #ChemOrigins, a community curated searchable database of experimental prebiotic chemistry. Read ➡️ https://t.co/INlO81fvUb Visit ➡️ https://t.co/AkYvYeLxOn For feedback contact: @BrZuviria!
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How did life begin, and why does it matter today? Proud to be one of the organizers of a new @ASMicrobiology report supported by the @MooreFound, exploring microbial origins & how they inform biotech, climate, and search for life in the universe. ➡️
asm.org
The Academy report, funded by a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, examines the origins and trajectory of early microbial life to inform and inspire future research.
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@AnnualReviews By tracing 3 pivotal moments in Earth’s history—the origin of prokaryotic cells, the emergence of eukaryotic complexity and the rise of multicellularity—the report offers fresh insight into life’s origins and a bold vision for future scientific discovery. Hope you enjoy it!
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Microbial life underpins all living systems and understanding its origins could help solve today’s biggest challenges. As a companion, we previously published an @AnnualReviews piece on reconstructing early microbes, providing key context & insights! ➡️ https://t.co/WQNJhCGTwu
annualreviews.org
For more than 3.5 billion years, life experienced dramatic environmental extremes on Earth. These include shifts from oxygen-less to overoxygenated atmospheres and cycling between hothouse conditions...
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How did life begin, and why does it matter today? Proud to be one of the organizers of a new @ASMicrobiology report supported by the @MooreFound, exploring microbial origins & how they inform biotech, climate, and search for life in the universe. ➡️
asm.org
The Academy report, funded by a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, examines the origins and trajectory of early microbial life to inform and inspire future research.
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🤩 Beautiful video capturing @HypothesisFund Awardee @betulland's research on Earth's ancient microbes! We're a proud early supporter of this pioneering research, and can't wait to see what Betül discovers next! 💫
Excited to share a new Big Think + John Templeton Foundation interview featuring work from our lab: “Meet the survivors of Earth’s worst days.” @betulland unpacks how life persisted through catastrophe! @bigthink @templeton_fdn Watch here:
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Gotta watch this
Excited to share a new Big Think + John Templeton Foundation interview featuring work from our lab: “Meet the survivors of Earth’s worst days.” @betulland unpacks how life persisted through catastrophe! @bigthink @templeton_fdn Watch here:
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Excited to share a new Big Think + John Templeton Foundation interview featuring work from our lab: “Meet the survivors of Earth’s worst days.” @betulland unpacks how life persisted through catastrophe! @bigthink @templeton_fdn Watch here:
bigthink.com
These microbes endured the unlivable. The NASA astrobiologist who studies them reveals what that means for us today
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Excited to share a new Big Think + John Templeton Foundation interview featuring work from our lab: “Meet the survivors of Earth’s worst days.” @betulland unpacks how life persisted through catastrophe! @bigthink @templeton_fdn Watch here:
bigthink.com
These microbes endured the unlivable. The NASA astrobiologist who studies them reveals what that means for us today
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🚀 At #BreakthroughDiscuss2025 in Oxford, we explored "Life As We Don't Yet Know It". Watch Betul's lecture on how rebuilding ancient biosignatures and biological history can guide the search for extraterrestrial life. 🌌🔬 Available online 👇 https://t.co/V6W2tdcXcl
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New work: Eukaryotic origins! 🥁 We propose that iron -not oxygen- delayed the rise of complex life. Our model reframes the “oxygen delay” puzzle: the gap between atmospheric O2 and early eukaryotic fossils may reflect iron (not O2)-mediated stress: https://t.co/LY8heO8wvq
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@KacarLab What a cool idea! Lots of interesting future hypotheses about exoplanet formation and a possible addendum to the Drake equation :) Thanks for this fresh story!
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