Simon J. George

Dr. Simon J. George has long been interested in how and why biological organisms use metals to do many of the key chemical reactions that allow life to happen. Metals, such as iron, nickel, molybdenum and copper, are used throughout biology in the active sites of enzymes and proteins, both as single ions, and as small metal nanoclusters. For example, the enzyme nitrogenase uses a metal-sulfur-carbide nanocluster made of molybdenum, iron, sulfur, carbon, and a homocitrate group to break nature’s strongest bond – the nitrogen-nitrogen triple bond in nitrogen gas. This field of study is called biological inorganic, or bioinorganic, chemistry, and it seeks to answer questions like: How do metal centers in biology work? Why does biology use certain metals and not others? How does biology make these metal centers? How did the earliest organisms use metals? Did metals play a part in the origin of life?

Simon’s interest in biological inorganic chemistry stems from three factors. First, it is relevant – after all, it’s about life! Second, it has huge potential applications, in biotechnology, in agriculture, in bioinspired industrial catalysis, and in many other areas. Finally, the experiments and problems are fun and technically challenging, as the experimental materials are often impure, severely limited in quantity and dilute in the metal of interest. Analyzing these, in turn, often requires developing and using novel, state-of-the-art analytical instruments, such as the new laser laboratory currently being installed at SETI.

Simon joined the SETI Institute in 2023. Before this, his career included stints working in Universities, National Laboratories and Industry. In all of these, he has used spectroscopies and related techniques, including advanced infra-red and X-ray spectroscopies as well as bioelectrochemistry and chemical kinetics. Much of his work involves the development of novel experimental instrumentation as well as software tools for instrument control and the analysis of complex data. While some of these experiments use facilities and instrumentation here at the SETI Institute, others use national facilities like the nearby, Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL), the SPring-8 synchrotron radiation facility in Japan, and the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee

Simon is fascinated about the possibility of life elsewhere in Universe. At SETI, he works as an astrobiologist, someone who studies the study of the origins, evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe. One project involves studying the metal sites and proteins from extremophiles; organisms which thrive in extreme environments such as very high or very low temperatures and pressures. Other projects include understanding the mechanism and biosynthesis of complex metal-containing proteins, such as the enzymes hydrogenase and nitrogenase. In the longer-term Simon hopes to extend these projects into problems related to the role of metals in evolution and the origin of life.

See CV.