Photonic Abiogenesis
Prof. Dr. Corinna L. Kufner
Prof. Corinna Kufner in the Jena Botanical Garden.
Corinna L. Kufner at Leibniz-IPHT
Image: Stela TodorovaProf. Dr. Corinna L. KUFNER
Email: corinna.kufner@leibniz-ipht.de
Phone: +49 3641 206 530
Illustration from J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2021, 12, 28, 6707-6713.
Image: C. L. KufnerDr. Corinna L. Kufner is a photophysicist and Head of the junior research group Photonic Abiogenesis at the Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology in Jena. Her research explores how light-driven processes shape chemical evolution and the emergence of biological functionality. By combining ultrafast spectroscopy with prebiotic photochemistry, she investigates fundamental photochemical mechanisms that may have contributed to the origin of life on early Earth and potentially on other planets. Her work integrates photonics, chemistry, and life sciences to uncover how radiation environments influence molecular selection, biomolecular stability, and the emergence of functional complexity. Using time-resolved spectroscopic methods, she identifies light-induced reaction pathways under geologically plausible conditions and examines how ultraviolet radiation may act both as a driving force and a selection pressure in chemical evolution. Before joining Leibniz IPHT, she conducted postdoctoral research at Harvard University, where she established a laboratory for transient absorption spectroscopy and demonstrated light-induced self-repair mechanisms in short RNA sequences relevant to early genomic evolution. Her research contributes to fundamental questions in origins-of-life science, astrobiology, and molecular photophysics, with implications for synthetic cell systems, biomedical photochemistry, and planetary habitability studies.
Research Areas
- Photonic abiogenesis and chemical evolution
- Prebiotic photochemistry under geologically realistic conditions
- Ultrafast light–matter interactions in biomolecular systems
- Emergence of biological functionality and molecular complexity
- Astrobiology and photochemical processes relevant to planetary environments
- Light-driven mechanisms in synthetic cell-like systems and biomedical photonics
Her work integrates physics, chemistry, astronomy, geochemistry, and data-driven approaches to investigate how radiation environments influence molecular evolution and the origin of life.
Teaching Fields
- Photophysics and ultrafast spectroscopy
- Fundamentals of photochemistry and light–matter interaction
- Biophotonics and molecular photodynamics
- Origins of life and astrobiological chemistry
- Interdisciplinary photonics for life and environmental sciences
Her teaching emphasizes interdisciplinary photonics education linking fundamental physical principles with biological and chemical systems.
Research Methods
- Ultrafast pump–probe spectroscopy and transient absorption spectroscopy
- Time-resolved investigation of elementary photochemical reaction pathways
- Experimental modeling of prebiotic environments under UV radiation
- Spectroscopic analysis of biomolecular photodynamics and repair mechanisms
- Interdisciplinary experimental frameworks combining spectroscopy, molecular chemistry, and computational analysis
These approaches enable mechanistic insight into light-driven reaction dynamics and intermediate states in complex molecular systems.
RNA-self-repair
Image: Cruciella et all.Recent Research Results
Recent work by Dr. Kufner demonstrates that ultraviolet radiation can actively drive and shape chemical evolution by initiating and selectively stabilizing biomolecular reaction pathways under early-Earth conditions. Her research has shown that light-induced processes can contribute not only to molecular synthesis but also to selection mechanisms that influence the emergence of biological functionality. Experimental studies using ultrafast spectroscopy have revealed dynamic pathways of light-triggered reactions relevant to RNA and other prebiotic molecules, supporting the hypothesis that radiation environments play a decisive role in molecular evolution and potentially in the origin of life on Earth and other planets.
[1] C. L. Kufner et al., Chem. Sci. 15, 2158 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1039/D3SC04971JExternal link
[2] C. L. Kufner et al., Scientific Reports 13 , 2638 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-29833-0External link
[3] C. L. Kufner et al., ChemSystemsChem 5 , e202200019 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1002/syst.202200019External link.
[4] S. J. Crucilla et al., Chem. Commun. 59, 13603 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1039/D3CC04013EExternal link.
[5] S. Ranjan et al., AGU Advances 4, e2023AV000926 (2023). https://doi.org/10.22541/essoar.168500273.36390133/v1External link.
[6] A. Ianeselli et al., Nat. Rev. Phys. 5, 185 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42254-022-00550-3External link.