Exploring pathways from chemistry to complexity in dynamic environments

Modern metabolic networks are extremely complex, yet they must have emerged from much simpler chemistry. Reconstructing that transition is challenging, since laboratory syntheses of metabolic building blocks rarely capture the dynamic environments of real planetary settings. In this talk, I will introduce a kinetic framework for testing whether proposed prebiotic pathways remain viable under realistic geochemical conditions. This approach offers a way to assess the plausibility of prebiotic pathways and to explore the role of dynamic energy landscapes in fostering chemical complexity, providing insights into the earliest steps toward life.