Research at ETH Zurich’s Centre for Origin and Prevalence of Life (COPL) brings together scientists from diverse disciplines to explore fundamental questions about the origins life. As part of this effort, NOMIS–ETH Fellow Taylor Priest is investigating the mobile genetic elements that play an important role in shaping biodiversity and the expansion of life on Earth. He discusses this research in a new film from the ETH Foundation.
Supporting the interdisciplinary and collaborative research at COPL, the NOMIS Foundation and ETH Zurich established the NOMIS–ETH Fellowship Program, which is enabling exceptional early-career researchers such as Taylor Priest to explore big questions about the origins of life. How did life on Earth begin? How did it develop and proliferate? And is there life on other planets?
According to Priest, “One of the central mechanisms through which life has evolved over the past 4 billion years is the exchange of genetic material between organisms. This process is driven by mobile genetic elements. The significance of these elements in shaping evolution is evidenced by their imprints in the genomes of all living organisms today. Studying mobile genetic elements can thus provide fundamental insights into how life adapts and evolves across different ecosystems and under different conditions.”
Learn more about Priest’s work and watch the film: On the Trail of Evolution
Feature image from “On the Trail of Evolution: NOMIS-ETH Fellowship” film, produced by Armin Nussbaumer
