Analytical Chemistry in Astrobiology
A special issue of Life (ISSN 2075-1729). This special issue belongs to the section "Astrobiology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2019) | Viewed by 36715
Special Issue Editor
2. Research Unit Analytical BioGeoChemistry, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Ingolstaedter Landstraße 1, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany
Interests: analytical chemistry; high-resolution analytics; complex bio(geo)systems; omics/metabolomics; meteoritics; astrochemistry; origin of life
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The European astrobiology roadmap (AstROMaP) has recently resumed a state-of-the-art research in the field of astrobiology worldwide, focusing mainly on topics such as (i) the origin and evolution of planetary systems, (ii) the origin of organic compounds in space, (iii) rock–water–carbon interactions and organic synthesis on Earth as steps to life, (iv) life and hability, and (v) biosignatures as elements facilitating life detection. Each topic is related at some point to the descriptions and understanding of complex interconected chemical processes. The modern technological breackthrough in analytical chemistry advancing the description of complex systems in the fields of life and earth sciences can thus have a direct impact in all five astrobiology topics.
The goal of this Special Issue is to focus on the technological advances that have enabled to further the systems approach and chemical understanding in the field of astrobiology. Papers describing works in all analytical sectors of separation sciences (chromatography, electrophoresis, etc), spectroscopy (over the whole spectral range for direct or remote chemical analysis, from optical to specific frequencies), and spectrometry (mass analysis, hyphenated techniques), as well as more comprehensive and integrative approaches, such as those obseved in the modern field of omics, will be welcomed in this Special Issue. We welcome astrobiology-relevant topics based on chemical observations from the large- to the nanoscale, nanofluidics or miniaturization of chemical analyses, organic analysis of specific targets with isotopic or enantiomeric specificity of complex mixtures with chemical resolution, observtion of biological systems (microbiomes of higher organisms) under space conditions and stresses. The chemistry of interrest will involve the whole astrochemiome, from small volatiles, which represent the first steps in the synthesis of biology-relevant macromolecules, to biomolecules.
Prof. Philippe Schmitt-Kopplin
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- analytical chemistry
- novel technologies
- astrochemistry
- (astro)chemiomics
- astrobiology
- (astro)biomics
- chemosynthesis
- early steps of life
- biosignatures
- analysis of complex chemistry
- omics
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