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Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) Institute for Advanced Study (IAS)

Roberto Serra (Sep 2023 - Nov 2023)

Former full professor of complex systems at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia

IAS

My research

My group and I develop theoretical models of various kinds of complex dynamical systems (including genetic regulatory networks, cell differentiation, growing and dividing protocells) looking for generic properties rather than focusing on specific cases, with emphasis on the possible role of dynamical criticality. I am also interested in the behaviour of the so-called TAP (Theory of the Adjacent Possible) equation

IAS fellowship

The main purpose of my stay at IAS will be that of writing a substatial part of a book on “The Origin of Life in Cells”. I have a contract with Springer for a book which should not be addressed only to specialists in the field, but also to scientists working in other disciplines and, hopefully, also to laymen with a strong interest in science.
The origin of life is one of the major open scientific challenges, together with those related to the origin of the universe and to the emergence of the mind. Most existing books focus on the spontaneous synthesis of the chemicals which are essential to life (like proteins, nucleic acids and lipids) and on the conditions which might have made their syntheses and replication possible. Yet, life is more than a bunch of collectively self-replicating molecules: every existing life form is composed of cells, thus showing a quite peculiar organization, where different molecular types and chemical processes interact in a complex way.
The book I propose to publish differs from existing ones, as it focuses on the cell-like (supramolecular) organization of living beings. Much attention will be payed to protocells, which are cell-like structures, much simpler than present-day cells, endowed with some rudimentary kind of metabolism and genetics. 

The main features which will characterize this volume, with respect to many others which have already been published, are:

  1. Placing Origin of Life in the framework of emergent phenomena
  2. Emphasizing the role of self-organized supramolecular structures
  3. Dealing with Origin of Life at a high abstraction level
  4. Discussing the role of molecular machines
  5. Stressing the importance of computational and mathematical models