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In a recent video from the Forum Network, Dr. Betül Kacar discusses research in paleogenomics. This young field studies the evolutionary history of life on Earth by focusing on preserved genetic material from ancient organisms. Kacar’s research combines experimental evolution with paleogenetics, and is proving new insights into the reconstruction of ancient genes and the genetic evolution of life on the modern Earth.

Kacar was a former NASA Astrobiology postdoctoral fellow at Georgia Tech’s NASA Center for Ribosomal Origins and Evolution. She now heads the Kacar Lab at Harvard University, funded by the John Templeton Foundation, The Earth-Life Origins Network and NASA Astrobiology. Recently, Kacar was invited to be an Associate-PI of the Earth-Life Science Institute, (ELSI) at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Kacar is a co-founder of the online astrobiology grassroots network, SAGANet.org.