Betül Kaçar
Betül Kaçar is an astrobiologist raised in Istanbul and a professor of bacteriology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, known for reconstructing ancient proteins in the laboratory to study the origin and early evolution of life, and she leads MUSE, a NASANASAThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is the U.S. federal agency responsible for the civilian space program, aeronautics research and space science. Established by law in 1958 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., it has run programs including Mercury, the Apollo Moon landings, the Space Shuttle, the International Space Station and Artemis.Open the full entry-funded astrobiology consortium.
Contents15 sections
Key facts
2002Summer Research at Emory University
Kaçar grew up in Istanbul, the child of parents from Turkey’s Black Sea region who did not complete elementary school; she went on to study for a bachelor’s degree in chemistry at Marmara University in Istanbul.[1]
In the summer of 2002 volunteering at an international scientific meeting introduced her to biomolecular chemistry; a Howard Hughes Medical Institute summer research scholarship then took her abroad for the first time to study proteins at Emory University, where she returned the following year for a PhD in biomolecular chemistry.[1]
2012NASA Astrobiology Postdoctoral Fellowship
In 2012 she received a NASA Astrobiology Postdoctoral Fellowship to bring reconstructed ancestral DNA sequences into the laboratory by expressing them in modern organisms and characterizing them physically, chemically and biologically.[2]
July 2012Placing an Ancient Gene in Modern E. coli
In July 2012 the Georgia Institute of Technology announced that Kaçar, a NASA astrobiology postdoctoral fellow in its Center for Ribosomal Origins and Evolution, had placed a resurrected roughly 500-million-year-old Elongation Factor-Tu (EF-Tu) gene into modern E. coli and let eight strains evolve for more than 1,000 generations, an experiment she likened to “rewinding and replaying” the molecular tape of life.[3]
2014–2017Research Group Leader at Harvard University
From 2014 to 2017 she led an independent research group at Harvard UniversityHarvard UniversityHarvard University is a private research university in Massachusetts, established by the Massachusetts Bay Colony legislature in 1636 and named in 1639 for early benefactor John Harvard. Its principal campuses are in Cambridge and the Allston and Longwood neighborhoods of Boston. It includes Harvard College, graduate and professional schools, and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Two governing boards share oversight. Alan M. Garber was president as of October 2026, and the endowment stood at $56.9 billion at the end of fiscal 2025.Open the full entry as a research associate in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology.[2]
2018Joins the University of Arizona
In 2018 she joined the University of Arizona, where she focused on reconstructing key enzymatic intermediates between biological activity and global geochemical reservoirs throughout Earth’s deep history; she describes her work as making “molecular time machines.”[4]
November 9, 2020Team Selected for NASA’s ICAR Program
On November 9, 2020, NASA’s Astrobiology Program selected eight teams from more than 40 proposals to launch its Interdisciplinary Consortia for Astrobiology Research (ICAR), including Kaçar’s Metal Utilization and Selection Across Eons (MUSE), which studies the natural selection of chemical elements during the coevolution of life and environment and aims to pioneer “evolutionary metallomics.”[5]
September 1, 2021Joins the University of Wisconsin–Madison
On September 1, 2021, she moved from the University of Arizona, where she had been a member of both the astronomy and the molecular and cellular biology departments, to the University of Wisconsin–Madison as assistant professor of bacteriology, directing MUSE there.[6]
November 2021Stanley Miller Early Career Award
In November 2021 the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life selected her for a Stanley Miller Early Career Award, recognizing new experimental systems she developed, such as organisms engineered with ancestral genes, to study the early evolution of biochemistry.[7]
April 2022TED Talk
In April 2022 she gave the TED talk “We could kick-start life on another planet. Should we?”[8]
May 16, 2022Co-Leads NASA’s LIFE Research Coordination Network
On May 16, 2022, NASA announced LIFE, a Research Coordination Network that will spend five years studying how life on Earth went from single cells to multicellularity, co-led by Kaçar with Frank Rosenzweig of Georgia Tech, Ariel Anbar of Arizona State University and Mary Droser of UC Riverside.[9]
December 29, 2022Appears on the Lex Fridman Podcast
On December 29, 2022, she appeared on episode 350 of the Lex FridmanLex FridmanLex Fridman is a Soviet-born, US-raised computer scientist and podcast host who works as an MIT research scientist on human-AI interaction and autonomous driving. His Lex Fridman Podcast is known for hours-long conversations with guests including heads of state and technology leaders.Open the full entry Podcast, on the origin of life, ancient DNA, panspermia and aliens, with segments on the history of life on Earth, the genetic language of life, evolution and restarting life on Earth.[10]
May 2026Study Shows Early Life Relied on Scarce Molybdenum
In May 2026 a study with her as senior author, published in Nature Communications, was the first to show that life used molybdenum as far back as 3.3 to 3.7 billion years ago, when the metal was extremely scarce in the environment.[11]
As of October 2026: Associate Professor of Bacteriology
As of October 2026 she is associate professor of bacteriology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and her lab is home to the NASA Astrobiology Center for Early Life and Evolution.[12]
Asteroid 284919 Kaçar is named in her honor, and she has partnered with UN Women to expand representation in STEM.[13]
She chairs GESDA’s anticipation committee on the topic “Science of the Origins of Life.”[14]
Related Organizations, Websites, and Public Accounts
X: Public account: https://x.com/betulland (opens in a new window)[10]
University of Wisconsin–Madison: Official website: https://www.wisc.edu (opens in a new window)[9]
Sources
- How to Time Travel Without Fear – GROW magazine (opens in a new window)
- Prof. Betül Kacar to lead NASA astrobiology research team (opens in a new window)
- Giving ancient life another chance to evolve: Scientists place 500-million-year-old gene in modern organism | ScienceDaily (opens in a new window)
- Sabri Ülker Symposium (opens in a new window)
- UArizona Space Grant mentor, Dr. Betül Kaçar, wins NASA Interdisciplinary Consortia for Astrobiology Research awards. | Arizona Space Grant Consortium (opens in a new window)
- New faculty profile: Betül Kaçar explores astrobiology and the origins of life – eCALS (opens in a new window)
- Betül Kaçar receives Stanley Miller Early Career Award from ISSOL – eCALS (opens in a new window)
- Betül Kaçar: We could kick-start life on another planet. Should we? | TED Talk – Clipsheet (opens in a new window)
- The search for how life on Earth transformed from simple to complex – UW–Madison News (opens in a new window)
- #350 – Betül Kaçar: Origin of Life, Ancient DNA, Panspermia, and Aliens | Lex Fridman Podcast (opens in a new window)
- NASA Research Shows Early Life Relied on Rare Metal - NASA Science (opens in a new window)
- Kaçar, Betül – Department of Chemistry – UW–Madison (opens in a new window)
- Betul Kacar – Badger Talks – UW–Madison (opens in a new window)
- Betül Kaçar - GESDA (opens in a new window)