Dr. Elisa Biondi earned her Ph.D. in Genetics & Astrobiology from the University of Florence in Italy in 2007. She’s currently a senior scientist and fellow at the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution.
In 2022, she and her co-authors published their research demonstrating how RNA can spontaneously form when certain organic molecules, known as nucleoside triphosphates, do nothing more than percolate through basaltic glass, created by lava expelled from volcanoes.
This discovery provides a potential breakthrough in our understanding for how life might have emerged on Earth and Mars, where both planets had similar volcanic activity early in their formation.