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Welcome to ChemOrigins docs

FAQ

What is ChemOrigins?

ChemOrigins is a database aimed to address the gap in the systematization of prebiotic chemistry.

What do you mean by "systematize"?

Carl von Linneo systematized plant species in the XVIII century by creating a method to classify plants and a method to address to specific plants. In the same spirit, we wish that there was a standard way to refer to a specific reaction or molecule, so we could find all the information related to them.

Why to systematize prebiotic chemistry?

Prebiotic chemistry is quite an intense discipline. From the first experiments in the 50s, we have learnt many different ways to connect prebiotic feedstocks to products. However, we have done that through multiple reductionist experiments, which we have reported across many different articles. Although there are some attempts to make systematic reviews, we believe that there is so much knowledge out there that we need another approach.

Where is the data comming from?

Reading 70 years of literature is not an easy task at all. Much less to convert all that information into a systematic resource. Therefore, ChemOrigins depends upon the community of prebiotic chemists and origin of life scientists to upload the data through a system of annotations and review. In the same way that open source software is built by contributions of the community, we expect to build prebiotic chemistry.

In which phase is this project?

Early. Very early, which is why we want your feedback and your help.

Where do I go from here?

We have created documentation pages to allow you to:

  • Understand the data that you can find in ChemOrigins
  • Interact with the data through the API
  • Upload new data using the annotation app.
  • Upload new data using github.

Is there a contact address?

Yes, you can reach me at:

bruno.czuviria at upm.es

Funding and acknowledgements

This work is possible thanks to, - University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Bacteriology - MUSE (Metal Usage Across Eons), NASA-ICAR - Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, through the Plan de Recuperación, Transformación y Resiliencia (Next-Generation EU).