---
product_id: 172099479
title: "The Emergence of Life: From Chemical Origins to Synthetic Biology"
brand: "pier luigi luisi"
price: "€ 86.30"
currency: EUR
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 4
url: https://www.desertcart.gr/products/172099479-the-emergence-of-life-from-chemical-origins-to-synthetic-biology
store_origin: GR
region: Greece
---

# The Emergence of Life: From Chemical Origins to Synthetic Biology

**Brand:** pier luigi luisi
**Price:** € 86.30
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

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- **What is this?** The Emergence of Life: From Chemical Origins to Synthetic Biology by pier luigi luisi
- **How much does it cost?** € 86.30 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.gr](https://www.desertcart.gr/products/172099479-the-emergence-of-life-from-chemical-origins-to-synthetic-biology)

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## Description

The Emergence of Life: From Chemical Origins to Synthetic Biology

## Images

![The Emergence of Life: From Chemical Origins to Synthetic Biology - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71ej1L--RUL.jpg)
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## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Robert E Smith, assistant professor, Park University and science advisor for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
*by A***R on December 6, 2016*

Professor Luisi’s book addresses the emergence of life through a systems perspective. It emphasizes the philosophical aspects of science as it examines the questions, “what is life” and “how did it begin”. He pointed out that the events that led to the origin of life did not necessarily have to happen at the exact times that they did. He also described the importance of contingencies, which can be confused with random events. Moreover, life was not part of an intelligent design in which all things are pre-destined and beyond the control of contingent events. He continued by describing the difference between self-replication and self-reproduction. He also showed that life does not necessarily depend on the presence of nucleic acids. Instead, life can be defined as an autopoietic system that has a membrane or some other boundary that separates itself from the environment. The membrane (or skin on humans) and many of the components within it are continuously being broken down and re-made. Moreover, cognition is an emergent property of life and metabolism is “the biochemical rendering of cognition at the cellular level”. Since membranes are an essential feature of life, models membranes, or vesicles are described. He then continued by describing efforts to create living organisms in a laboratory. This will help us determine just how little might be needed to create a minimal cell. This is of much more than just academic interest. Professor Luisi also described some important examples of how synthetic biology is being used for many practical applications. Cells are being designed that can produce hydrogen gas for fuel or take up and degrade the herbicide atrazine or remediate lead or cadmium contamination. There are even some potential medical applications that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other governments’ regulatory agencies may approve soon. These include a new bandage called LactoAid that will prevent infections in burn wounds without having to use antibiotics. Instead, Lactococcus lactis was genetically modified so that it could secrete three compounds that can prevent bacterial infections through several different modes simultaneously. There are also some applications using CRISPR technology, which is changing the way that many new drugs are being developed. For example, professor Luisi briefly described a project that developed a toolkit that enables the customized regulation of genes. CRISPR is being used to target specific DNA sequences that can be matched with different effector domains to either activate or repress their transcription. Another project is engineering E. coli that occurs in the gut so that it can detect a specific antigen on cancer cell membranes and to express apoptotic proteins under the control of bacterial quorum sensing. So, this is an important book that people with any different backgrounds will find useful. There is information about the philosophy of science that will help the reader understand “what is life” and “what is death”? It also provides important updates on autopoeisis and cognition that biologists will appreciate. There is chemical information about different kinds of vesicles. Then there are the examples of synthetic biology that anyone interested in new drug development and the environment will find fascinating. So, I heartily recommend this book to anyone who is interested in these many subjects.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ comprehensive review of artificial life
*by J***B on December 15, 2019*

Very thorough and well written summary of research on synthetic life

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ very good
*by J***E on August 31, 2019*

very good

## Frequently Bought Together

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*Product available on Desertcart Greece*
*Store origin: GR*
*Last updated: 2026-01-31*