Life on Earth began in the deep sea, where extreme conditions shaped the earliest organisms. Dr. Webb, Dr. D’Arcy and Dr. Yan are diving into this deep-sea world to understand how lipid bilayer membranes—essential components of living cells—function under high pressure versus standard pressure. Their work could provide insights into the origins of life, the search for extraterrestrial organisms and medical techniques such as organ preservation.
“The deep-sea organisms we see today have similarities to our own cells but with key differences that allow them to survive under immense pressure,” said Dr. Webb. “They have life cycles that look a lot like what you would find in our bodies, yet have chemical structures that are sometimes very, very different and are existing under these conditions where we know the lipids in our bodies would be completely nonfunctional. So, we’re asking questions about these changes in the chemical structure of an individual molecule.” By identifying these differences, the team hopes to refine scientific understanding of how life transitioned from the ocean to land.
Each of the collaborators brings unique expertise to the project. Dr. Webb’s group uses various kinds of spectroscopy to study mechanisms of biological macromolecules that lead to the complex properties of living systems. Dr. Yan’s lab is interested most in the mechanisms governing chemistry under mechanically extreme conditions. Dr. D’Arcy’s team monitors how proteins move and how this movement can change depending on the environment. Dr. Webb explained, “Ours are extremely complementary approaches that, again, can all be done on the same sample, so we don’t have to invent different experiments and try to tie them together after the fact.”
The WelchX retreat was critical to the formation of the project. Dr. Webb said, “[The project] felt like it just came together, but the days we spent together at the retreat were very well organized to catalyze that happening.”
Beyond the collaboration among the principal investigators, the WelchX Pilot Grant is allowing their students to perform research in each other’s labs and work on equipment they would not have access to otherwise. “It’s a fantastic opportunity for the students to gain hands-on experience with methods they wouldn’t normally encounter,” said Dr. Webb.
The research has profound applications, especially for organ donation. Currently, the organs must be transplanted within hours due to rapid cellular degradation. However, understanding how pressure affects cell membranes could lead to new preservation techniques, potentially extending the viability of donated organs. Dr. Webb explained, “If we understood better how living cells change as a function of pressure because we’ve done these very specific experiments, then we can hypothesize how changes in pressure can contribute toward preserving these vital assets.”
Looking further into the future, the project could also affect the search for alien lifeforms. Scientists searching for life beyond Earth often look for water, but it is possible they should be searching for other biochemical signatures. “If we know what life looks like under extreme conditions here, it gives us better clues about what to look for on other planets,” said Dr. Webb. “This is why you do fundamental research, right? You have a question that’s interesting, and you study it in part just because you’re curious and want to answer that question. But the places it could go … who knows?”