Exploring Life’s Early Evolution with Molecular Paleobiology

Dr. Betül Kaçar is an Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the Department of Bacteriology. Her research group investigates the coevolution of cellular life and environment in lifeforms extinct and extant, using experimental and computational systems. She is one of the co-leaders of the NASA Life: From Early Cells to Multicellularity Research Coordination Network and directs a new NASA-funded multimillion-dollar astrobiology research center focusing on life’s early evolution in Madison, Wisconsin.

Dr. Kaçar was selected to receive a Stanley Miller Early Career Award in 2022 and was named a NASA Early Career Fellow in 2020.  She co-founded the only astrobiology outreach and grassroots network SAGANet and was partnered with the 2020 UN Women Generation Equality Campaign to support education of girls and women globally.