Furman professor receives grant to advance research in prebiotic atmospheric chemistry

GREENVILLE, S.C. (courtesy furman.edu) — Furman University’s George Shields, professor of chemistry, has received a 2024 SEED Award from the Research Corporation for Science Advancement. The $60,000 grant will advance his research in prebiotic atmospheric chemistry to study how life-giving proteins emanated from a lifeless Earth.

The award stems from Shields’ work with undergraduates over the last several years that advances a novel hypothesis that tests how peptides – chains of amino acids that make up proteins – formed on primordial Earth with just a handful of water molecules in the prebiotic, oxygen-starved atmosphere.

“How life began is an unsolved mystery in science,” Shields said. “Which came first: DNA, RNA or proteins? No one knows. Our project is looking at the idea that perhaps small peptides were synthesized in the atmosphere. As amino acids floated in the air, water molecules catalyzed the formation of small peptides, which eventually would descend to Earth, seeding the planet with essential building blocks for life.”

Like the peptide chains at the center of Shields’ investigations, research in his lab is built block by block, in semester- and summer-long chunks by young student scientists who bring their unique perspectives and ideas to the work.

Shields first explored origins-of-life science in 2018 with Ariel Gale ’20, a Goldwater Scholar, Beckman Scholar and recipient of a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program grant. Gale, who is working toward her doctorate in theoretical chemistry at Emory University, was one of only a few students working on the project crafted by Shields. At the time, the research was unfunded, but it led to two papers with Gale as lead author.

Two more Furman biochemistry enthusiasts picked up where Gale left off. Shannon Harold ’22 M ’23 and Sky Warf ’24 pushed the work to a point where it could be funded and again published. Harold is now pursuing a medical degree; Warf, a doctoral degree.

Recently, Shields received NSF-MRI funding to support the MERCURY consortium and high-performance computing. He is principal investigator for a $465,000 grant from NSF-REU that bolsters research and STEM representation in the Southeast. This latest grant from RCSA funds Shields’ own research project and enables him to dedicate two to three students to it each year over the next two years. And the cycle continues.

“If we make good progress on this grant and learn new things about prebiotic atmospheric chemistry, I’ll submit a grant to NASA in the future for more funding,” he said.

Shields is one of 11 scientists to receive the RSCA SEED grant this year. He is grateful to the foundation and the people at Furman who helped him submit a winning proposal, including Bri Pochard, associate director for grants and research administration, and Greg Springsteen, professor of chemistry and NASA- and NSF-funded scientist who also studies prebiotic chemistry.

Shields is equally indebted to the undergraduates who have collaborated in his lab. “Furman punches way above its weight” in terms of research excellence, he said. “These students work hard, they’re super smart, and they deserve all the recognition they get. It’s a privilege to work with them.”