The Centre
The Centre for Origin and Prevalence of Life, an interdisciplinary centre for research and teaching, focuses on answering questions such as: 1) How did life on Earth begin? 2) How did life develop and proliferate? 3) Is there life on other planets?
The Centre for Origin and Prevalence of Life (COPL) was established in 2022 as an interdisciplinary centre for research and teaching focused on answering questions such as:
How did life on Earth begin?
How did it develop and proliferate?
And is there life on other planets?
To answer these fundamental scientific questions, COPL facilitates the building of bridges between disciplines. Joining the Centre are more than 40 research groups from seven different departments at ETH Zurich and the Paul scherrer Institute including biologists, chemists, Earth scientists, physicists, and environmental systems scientists. Together they will focus on the chemical and physical processes that made the formation of living organisms possible, as well as on planets and the environmental conditions hospitable to support life.
The purpose of the Centre for Origin and Prevalence of Life at ETH Zürich is to establish and support interdepartmental services and joint research and teaching activities, addressing fundamental questions about the prevalence of life in the universe and the processes that led to its emergence. The Centre intends to promote flexible forms of scientific collaboration that transcend existing disciplinary boundaries and exploit opportunities and synergies between disciplines.
To achieve its scientific ambition, the Centre will develop an extensive programme including cutting-edge interdisciplinary research projects, the recruitment of outstanding talents, the development of an active scientific networking programme and an interdisciplinary life sciences curriculum.
The co-location of researchers from various departments situated on ETH’s two campuses, ETH Zentrum, ETH Hönggerberg and also in Basel and the external pagePaul Scherrer Institute, as well as their continuous engagement with knowledge outside their usual remit will provide the required cross-disciplinary interaction and intellectual stimulus to promote and inspire creative and ambitious interdisciplinary research projects. By bringing together chemists, biologists, geologists, and astrophysicists that share a common scientific vision, the Centre aims to address the following scientific objectives:
- Defining the chemical and physical processes that generate the molecular building blocks for life and drive the transition to emergent biological entities
- Characterising the diversity of planetary environments
- Quantifying the capability of planetary environments to meet, maintain and diversify conditions for complex life and how life shapes planetary environments
- Investigation of non-standard life and life in extreme