Zack Cohen

Zack Cohen is a NASA Postdoctoral Fellow at NASA Ames Research Center, affiliated with the Center for the Emergence of Life (CEL) in the Exobiology Branch. His research focuses on the origin of life on Earth, including coevolution of small RNAs and prebiotic membrane systems. He holds a PhD in Chemistry and Astrobiology from the University of Washington (2023) and a BS in Physics and Integrative Biology from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (2017).

Research interests include synthetic cells, green chemistry applications for prebiotic systems, and the role of evaporating lakes in early Earth environments. Recent work explores RNA-membrane interactions and peptide-driven protocell selection mechanisms.

Publications in 2024 include studies on soda lake environments for prebiotic chemistry and peptide stabilization in fatty acid vesicles. Cohen received the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship during his PhD.

Current projects investigate protocell evolution through interdisciplinary approaches combining synthetic chemistry and astrobiology. No formal advisees are listed, but his work contributes to NASA's Exobiology research portfolio.