We are currently witnessing a remarkable convergence of our physical and material technologies with the worlds of biology. Genome sequence information is leading us ever closer to the most fundamental structural and functional secrets of living organisms. Dominant among them is the realization that the complex structures of biology seem remarkably, almost magically, to self-assemble. From vesicle formation, to protein folding and ribosome assembly, to the organogenesis of multicellular organisms, both macromolecular sequence information as well as instructions for self- assembly are encoded within the genome.

The David G. Lynn Group at Emory University works to understand the structures and forces that enable supramolecular self-assembly, how chemical information can be stored and translated into new molecular entities, and how the forces of evolution can be harnessed in new structures with new function. Such knowledge offers tremendous promise for discoveries in fields as diverse as drug design and genome engineering, pathogenesis and genome evolution, functional nanoscale materials and the origins of living systems. A few specific projects and the people involved are listed above in the order of increasing scale.


Recent News:

Erin Schuler and Chenrui Chen recently completed Emory's NMR Short Course. So if you're feeling inadequate and need help with a COSY just ask Erin and Chenrui. (06/12/2009)

Emory's NMR Short Course 2009

Congratulations to Savannah Adams for being invited to the ACS summer school on Green Chemistry and Sustainable Energy in Golden, CO.
Congratulations to Savannah Adams for being awarded 2009 ThinkSwiss Research Scholarship.
Hear David Lynn at the Evolution Revolution Symposium Panel called "Can We Engineer New Life?". Video from David Lynn.
Read about Savannah Adams early days as an Undergraduate at Piedmont College from the Piedmont College Journal Fall 2008 edition
Thinh Bui received the Best Presentation Award at the Emory's Fall Undergraduate Research Symposium for his presentation titled "“Amyloid-Directed Catalysis – Opportunities for Peptides in the Origins of Life"
Congratulations to Seth Childers for being named a ARCS Foundation (Achievement Rewards for College Scientists) 2008 fellow.
Congratulations to Dr. Melissa Bobeck for being named an ORDER scholar.

Congratulations to Dr. Drew Palmer who defended his thesis titled
"Semagenesis: Translating the Molecular Dialogues of Host-Parasite Interactions".
To learn more and see a video about Drew's Experience and Discoveries click here.

Drew Defends!

Read our about our recent findings in Emory Report
Emory-led Study Links Metals to Alzheimer's and Other Neurodegenerative Diseases

On-line Presentations:
Life of the Mind Series: "Origins of Evolution", David Lynn, Emory, Nov. 7th, 2007
(requires RealPalyer - click here for free download)