Burton Lecture 2026

Professor John Sutherland, Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, will explore one of science's most profound questions: how did chemistry transform into biology at the origin of life?

The lecture will showcase recent research about how the hellish conditions of early Earth could answer this question. You're invited to join us after the lecture for a drinks reception.

This event is for anyone with an interest in chemistry and its associations with the origin of life. Experience of studying or working in this field is not required to understand the lecture.

How can chemistry morph into biology? This is the key question about the origin of life. If we want to know where we came from and whether or not we're likely to be alone in the Universe, we need to think about chemistry in the context of planetary science.

We don't see new life starting in any of the diverse environments now found on Earth, so the chances are early Earth had a different environment that was conducive to life. As well as this, the enzymes on which modern biology relies so heavily as catalysts to drive chemical reactions, did not exist before life began. So to explain the origin of life, we need to find a chemistry that can make the same componentry efficiently without the use of enzymes.

One approach to finding such a chemistry is to guess at the environment and then use laboratory simulations to investigate its chemistry. The problem with this is the guesswork – there were presumably many different environments on early Earth and it is not obvious what chemistry they might be associated with.

An alternative approach is to explore chemistry in an open-ended way to try and find out if all the molecules needed to kick-start biology can be made under similar conditions. If they can, and the conditions required correspond to a particular environment on early Earth, then this offers powerful clues about where and how life may have started and can further guide chemical investigations. In this lecture, John will present the results of this latter approach and demonstrate how hellish conditions on Hadean-Archean Earth could have set the stage for the transition from chemistry to biology.

Professor John Sutherland studied chemistry at the University of Oxford, and then spent time as a Kennedy Scholar at Harvard with Jeremy Knowles. Upon return to the UK, he carried out his doctoral work with Jack Baldwin at Oxford, and then stayed in Oxford first as a Junior Research Fellow and then as a University Lecturer in Organic Chemistry. In 1998 he took a chair in Biological Chemistry at Manchester, and in 2010 moved to the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge as a Group Leader. He is interested in chemistry associated with the origin of life, and, along with his research group, has made contributions in the area of prebiotic nucleotide, amino acid and lipid synthesis and RNA chemistry.

17:00 - Opening remarks

17:05 - Lecture by Professor John Sutherland

17:50 - Q&A

18:00 - Closing remarks

18:05 - Drinks reception

19:00 - Event close

The Burton Lectures were established in the 1970s in honour of Professor Harold Burton, and many distinguished academics have participated over the years.

Professor Burton was Head of the King's College London's Department of Chemistry from 1947 until his death in 1966. The research which he directed quickly built up the reputation of the Department of Chemistry. He planned for the introduction of the specialist courses in Chemistry, which started in October 1966, and also for a great expansion in teaching and research.

The Harold Burton Fund was established for the promotion of Chemistry in the College, which included an annual lecture.

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• This event will be livestreamed from 17:00 to 18:05.

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