Enzymes use strong electric fields to catalyze metabolism. Could abiotic electric fields have kickstarted a proto-metabolism before enzymes? @noeminogal.bsky.social's paper in @jacs.acspublications.org hints that, at least for pyridoxal biosynthesis, the answer might be yes. doi.org/10.1021/jacs...

Enzymes use strong electric fields to catalyze metabolism. Could abiotic electric fields have kickstarted a proto-metabolism before enzymes? @noeminogal.bsky.social's paper in @jacs.acspublications.org hints that, at least for pyridoxal biosynthesis, the answer might be yes. doi.org/10.1021/jacs...

Thanks for sending Jon our way, John. We’ll take good care of him!

Had a great visit at McGill Chemistry in my home town of Montréal. Thanks to Thomas Preston for hosting, Janine Mauzeroll for the invitation, and everyone else for their time.

Yes, indeed! First time in Hawaii and at this conference.

The jet lag helped the family get up early on Tuesday and we made it to the top of Diamond Head just after sunrise.

Enjoying science and (occasional) sun at @pacifichem.bsky.social Thanks to Yoshiyuki Kageyama and Neal Devaraj for organizing the session on "Frontiers in Dynamic Supramolecular Chemistry: Towards Practical Functions".

We are on a roll with hiring here at @uvic.ca Chemistry! Experimental chemistry research programs of all types are in scope. See Saurabh's note below for details/advertisement link! (and don't let his self deprecation fool you - he's already made faculty meetings 20% more inspiring! 🙃)

Great news for astrobiology in Ontario and Canada! www.cbc.ca/news/science...

They say grad students start to resemble their chemicals. Very creative, Jack! Happy Halloween!

Yes! I have been advocating for this viewpoint for years.

10 days left to apply. A view from my 13 min bike commute downtown - not always possible in North America!

Past and present collide as @rjmayer.bsky.social and @yannickgeiger.bsky.social, now both leading groups of their own, meet @noeminogal.bsky.social at @esor2025.bsky.social in beautiful Padova.

A great start to @esor2025.bsky.social in beauitiful Padova today. An introduction by our conference chair @leonardprins.bsky.social

@uottawa.ca is hiring a Full Professor and Tier 1 CRC in Sustainable Catalyst Design. Ability to teach inorganic and organometallic chemistry especially welcome. Comes with dedicated funding, teaching reduction, and substantial startup funds. Ottawa is a great place to live! tinyurl.com/bdcm5hw6

This was a great kick-off and I wish the team much luck moving forward!

Et pour terminer la journée, Joseph Moran nous parle de l'origine du métabolisme. @gregoiredanger.bsky.social @pauline-poinot.bsky.social @ytrolez.bsky.social @moranlabchem.bsky.social

In the Interdisciplinarity in Organic Chemistry symposium at #CSC2025. Started out with @moranlabchem.bsky.social telling us about the metabolic origins of life, and now hearing from Eda Kilic from @theprattgroup.bsky.social about organelle targeting dyes. Organic chemistry is so cool 🥰

What better to do on the morning of #CSC2025 than explore some Ottawa trails with @leitchlab.bsky.social, @nelsonyslam.bsky.social and @hoflab.bsky.social ?

At the dawn of life, did metabolism come first? Some scientists propose that in the beginning, geochemistry gave way to biochemistry — with no genetic material necessary. Only later did RNA and DNA appear.

Was a JSP Fellow more than a decade ago and it was so critical to integration of this Canadian (who barely knew anyone on the continent) into the European scene. Thank you, @swisschemistry.bsky.social

It feels strange to be in Switzerland in April/May for something other than the #Burgenstock meeting, but it was a pleasure to be the external speaker at the last retreat of the NCCR Molecular Systems Engineering in Grindelwald.

I think a lot about what Carl Sagan said in one of his final interviews.

I check the little screen, I check the big screen, I check the watch screen, I check the tablet screen. I check the screen that reminds me of the good times, I check the screen that reminds me of the better times.

🎉 Big day for our group: our first publication is out! Tom did a fantastic job highlighting current trends & opportunities in peptide catalysis — now published in Chem Catalysis (open access). Huge congrats, Tom! www.cell.com/chem-catalys...

Some scientists propose that in the beginning, geochemistry gave way to biochemistry — with no genetic material necessary. Only later did RNA and DNA appear. ✍️ Viviane Callier

From cutting-edge materials to the origins of life, plus how climate change affects everything—from mountain peaks to your plate—learn about the discoveries that are shaping our future. Don’t miss our New Professor Lecture! 🌍🔬 ✨ www.uottawa.ca/faculty-scie...

Thank you for the kind highlight of our work. There is so much more to come.

Influence of Rare-Earth-Elements on Prebiotic Reaction Networks Resembling the Biologically Relevant Krebs Cycle | ChemRxiv - doi.org/10.26434/che... by @joguti.bsky.social is our groups first contribution to the OoL field! We would love some feedback #chemsky 🤓🧪

This is a big nothingburger. It’s all about context. His PhD advisor is right. He cites the work in question 20 times and mentions it extensively. Obviously no intent to take credit for those ideas. Probably should have used quotation marks in some places. That’s about it. Who wrote this article?

I join researchers from Coast to Coast to Coast to demonstrate and exercise my voting power. In #Elxn45, I will vote for the Member of Parliament who recognises the importance of research to Canada’s success and prioritizes excellence in research. #ResearchersVote #VotonsRecherche #CdnPoli

🇨🇦 Rejoignez-nous ! @uottawascience.bsky.social recrute un(e) superviseur(e) pour son plateforme à Rayons-X, qui sera bientôt doté d'un nouvel équipement haut de gamme. Merci de partager ! Il reste 10 jours pour postuler : uottawa.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/fr-CA/uOttaw...

🇨🇦 Come be our colleague! @uottawascience.bsky.social is hiring a supervisor for our X-Ray Core Facility, with new high end equipment coming soon. Ottawa is a beautiful place to live. Please share widely! 10 days left to apply: uottawa.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/uOttaw...

🚨 HUGE news from Canada's tricouncils who are harmonizing their scholarship & fellowship programs, upping the total number (huzzah!), and critically, allowing foreigners to apply for doctoral and postdoc fellowships. Want to work with me? Get in touch! 🇨🇦🧪⚒️ www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/NewsDetail-D...

Thanks to @weixgroup.bsky.social @uwmadscience.bsky.social for being our 2025 Gilead lecturer, and thanks to #GileadSciences for the support! Great to catch up with some @uottawascience.bsky.social alumni who now work there. Thanks to Mike Organ for organizing. @thenewmanlab.bsky.social

Congrats, Valentyn, on the best thesis prize in chemistry for the Alsace region! It was a pleasure to be your advisor, together with @djpleboeuf.bsky.social.

We are really proud with @moranlabchem.bsky.social of Valentyn who got a thesis award from Alsace for his exciting work on new amination processes! 🥳🍾

Does anyone else's @researchgate.bsky.social recently constantly get stuck on verifying you're a human? It's rendered the site totally useless for me.

Reactions of ribose relevant to the origin of metabolism apparently occur in aqueous microdroplets but not in bulk water. Why not? Computations suggest it's electric fields. Thanks @thijsstuyver.bsky.social and @javialra97.bsky.social for the great collab! doi.org/10.1002/ceur...

Happy to see this nice collaboration with @moranlabchem.bsky.social out in @ChemistryEur -- Abiotic Ribonucleoside Formation in Aqueous Microdroplets: Mechanistic Exploration, Acidity, and Electric Field Effects. @javialra97.bsky.social chemistry-europe.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

It's a pleasure to host @alisonwendlandt.bsky.social from @mitofficial.bsky.social here today at @uottawa.bsky.social as our Fagnou Lecturer for the 2024-2025 season. "Catalytic Isomerization Outside the Confines of Thermodynamics".

@yannickgeiger.bsky.social and I are jointly looking to hire a postdoc in Strasbourg @unistra.fr with a strong background in electrochemistry to develop a new concept for CO2 fixation. The 18-month contract is funded by Syensqo. Start date as soon as possible.

The key to enjoying a Canadian winter is to embrace winter sports! Last week we taught two of our new group members to skate on the Rideau Canal, the world's largest naturally frozen ice rink. @noeminogal.bsky.social

Exactly. I've said this countless times re: responding to reviewers. t.co/IX2doZkNbR

Happy Holidays from our Ottawa-based lab! Looking forward to an exciting 2025!

The secret sauce for starting a new lab is to set up the right kind of culture; one that best enables innovative science with its “enthusiasm, lucid criticism, nonconformism, and friendship” (Francois Jacob)

Our first preprint was in collaboration with Maciej Piejko and @moranlabchem.bsky.social , and we investigated the mechanism of abiotic phosphorylation of ribose and the subsequent formation of ribonucleosides under the effect of an oriented external electric field ⚡ 📜 doi.org/10.26434/che...