What if...?
30 June 2026
What if solving one of biology's oldest mysteries shapes the future of medicine?
The third story in the Institute's 'What If?' series follows Assistant Investigator Arvind Pillai, Ph.D., explores one of biology's deepest unanswered questions: How does evolution create something entirely new? By reconstructing ancient proteins that disappeared hundreds of millions, even billions, of years ago, Pillai's lab is uncovering the principles that gave rise to life's molecular machinery. Those same principles could one day help scientists engineer entirely new proteins capable of delivering drugs and treating disease. Discover how a lifelong fascination with nature's complexity became a scientific pursuit that stretches from Earth's distant past to the future of medicine.
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