Emil Laust Kristoffersen, PhD

Still possible to sign up:

projects.au.dk/doli/danish-...

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Today is is early deadline for registering for the first Danish Origins of Life Symposium in Copenhagen, which we are organizing.

projects.au.dk/doli/danish-...

Sign up now if you want to be in the run for presenting at the meeting. Registration will remain open for poster presentations.

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Tak. Er lidt ny på BS. 😆

Literature 📝:
New paper:
(doi.org/10.1093/nar/...)
Previous paper:
(doi.org/10.7554/eLif...)
Additional reading:
(doi.org/10.1073/pnas...)

(4/4)

The main structure, a dimer, inhibits RCS but can be reactivated making way for potential double RCS.

Overall, the paper emphasizes the importance of template structure for self-replication and offers new insights into how the initial replication machinery might have looked and functioned.

(3/4)

In the paper, we investigate RNA polymerase ribozymes and their ability to perform rolling circle synthesis (RCS).

We previously showed that RCS is possible, though inefficient. Now, we use cryo-EM and identify a network of unexpected structures (see movie) which affect RCS.

(2/4)

Roles of dimeric intermediates in RNA-catalyzed rolling circle synthesis Abstract. The RNA world hypothesis is supported by the discovery of RNA polymerase ribozymes that can perform RNA-catalyzed RNA replication processes on di

📜:‍🧬🔬
I am excited to announce that our paper is now out in the journal NAR!

doi.org/10.1093/nar/...

A big thank you to all the co-authors — Ewan, Phil, and Ebbe! And, most notably, congratulations to Niels on your first publication! Thanks also to the EMBION facility at AU 🔬!

(1/4)

Just received this super cool comic book on the origins of life in the RNA world! Great work! ❤️

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Very excited to announce our Origins of Life Seminar in the summer of 2025 at the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters!!!

The meeting will focus on bridging the distances in which life works - from light years to nanometers. 📐

Checkout our great speaker-list and stay tuned for more!

YouTube video by Aarhus Universitet Læs naturvidenskab på AU – sammen skaber vi ny viden

The new promotion video for studying natural sciences at Aarhus University.

DNA and RNA are credited 🤘🧬

The Cryo-EM: the next 50 years Symposium held yesterday at @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social was a smashing success!!

Very interesting program at the Cryo-EM: next 50 years symposium at Berkely. Solving more RNA structures is on the todo!

The one time @theguardian.com could rightly use a left-handed DNA image... and they choose right-handed 🤦🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️
@iansample.bsky.social

figure from the paper showing a reconstruction of an RNA-only capsid-like molecule

Really beautiful RNA structures from Rachel Kretsch in the Das and Chiu groups

These look like viral capsids but they're only RNA!! Hopefully this unlocks more work on "ornate" RNAs 🧪

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Reading this paper on non-catalysed polymerization of nucleic acids.

Conclusions from RNA section at #CASP16, without a template all fail. All small targets had a template.

Looking at the 2D structure of the heterodimeric triplet polymerase ribozyme (TPR), always reminds me of the bronze-age petroglyphs of the plow driven by oxes 😅

Cool example that evolution likes cooperativity.

See the full paper: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...