In September 2026, the SETI Institute in Mountain View welcomed three postdoctoral researchers whose combined work traces the arc of life's possibility from the molecular to the cosmic — from viral genomes that blur the boundaries of inheritance, to the geochemical conditions that make Mars a mirror for Earth, to the protoplanetary disks where the raw materials of worlds are first assembled. Their appointments reflect a conviction that the question of life in the universe cannot be answered from any single vantage point, but only by following it across scales, disciplines, and worlds. In an er
SETI Institute Appoints Three Postdoctoral Fellows to Study Life's Origins Across Cosmic Scales
Following the question of life across these scales is essential
Mark
So we have three researchers studying viruses, Mars, and planet formation. What's the connective tissue? Why does the SETI Institute care about all three?
Mimi
They're all asking the same question from different vantage points: what has to be true about the universe for life to exist? Benites looks at how life actually works at the molecular level. Berlanga asks what planetary conditions allow life to survive. Deng traces where the building blocks come from in the first place.
Luke
But are those really the same question? Benites is studying Earth organisms. Berlanga is studying Mars. Deng is studying star systems that may or may not have planets yet. How do those findings actually connect?
Mimi
They connect in how you'd design a search for life elsewhere. If you don't understand how viruses shape evolution on Earth, you might miss signs of life that evolved differently. If you don't know what makes Mars habitable or not, you won't know where to look. If you don't know what materials are available in a protoplanetary disk, you can't predict what kind of planets form.
Mark
So Benites is saying there could be life on Earth we haven't found yet?
Mimi
That's what he's investigating. He calls them dark genomic lineages—organisms or genetic systems that don't show up in our current models. Understanding them might change how we search beyond Earth.
Luke
But that's speculative, right? He's not claiming he's found hidden life. He's saying the methods might reveal it.
Mimi
Exactly. That's the research question. And for Berlanga, the Mars work is more concrete—he's analyzing actual rover data and comparing it to lab experiments.
Mark
What's the machine learning piece doing for Berlanga?
Mimi
It's helping him predict how brines—salty water—evolve under Martian conditions and whether those environments could support life. He's bringing together three different datasets that don't normally talk to each other.
Luke
Is there actual evidence of brines on Mars that could support life, or is this theoretical?
Mimi
Rovers have detected evidence of brines. Whether they could support life is the open question. That's what the machine learning is trying to predict.
Mark
And Deng is looking at the earliest stage—before planets even form?
Mimi
Right. He's studying the disks around young stars. Understanding what materials are in those disks tells you what planets could be made of and what atmospheres they might have.
Luke
But we don't have direct observations of most protoplanetary disks, do we? He's using ALMA and JWST, but those are relatively new tools.
Mimi
True. He's combining what observations exist with thermochemical modeling. It's a hybrid approach—some data, some physics-based prediction.
Mark
So the Institute is betting that these three approaches will eventually inform each other?
Mimi
That's the idea. You understand life's possibilities better when you see the full chain: how it works, what conditions allow it, and where those conditions come from.
El Pulso
- The search for extraterrestrial life has long been fragmented across disciplines — these three appointments are a deliberate attempt to stitch those fragments into a coherent scientific strategy.
- L. Felipe Benites is hunting for hidden forms of life hiding in plain sight on Earth, using viral genomics to challenge what we think we know about the tree of life itself.
- Genesis Berlanga is applying machine learning to Mars-analog field data, racing to determine whether briny, mineral-rich environments could sustain life before future missions arrive to test the answer in person.
- Dingshan Deng is modeling the chemical inheritance of entire planetary systems, tracing how the contents of protoplanetary disks determine whether a forming world ever has a chance at habitability.
- Together, their research is converging on a single question — how does life become possible — and the Institute's leadership sees their interdisciplinary range as the methodology, not merely the background.
In September 2026, the SETI Institute in Mountain View welcomed three postdoctoral researchers whose combined work traces the arc of life's possibility from the molecular to the cosmic — from viral genomes that blur the boundaries of inheritance, to the geochemical conditions that make Mars a mirror for Earth, to the protoplanetary disks where the raw materials of worlds are first assembled. Their appointments reflect a conviction that the question of life in the universe cannot be answered from any single vantage point, but only by following it across scales, disciplines, and worlds. In an era of powerful telescopes and planetary rovers, the Institute is betting that the deepest insights will come from researchers willing to hold the microscope and the telescope at once.
The SETI Institute has appointed three postdoctoral researchers whose work, taken together, follows the question of life's emergence across scales that most scientists study in isolation. L. Felipe Benites, Genesis Berlanga, and Dingshan Deng arrived in September 2026, each approaching the problem from a radically different vantage point.
Benites, a Mino Fellow, investigates the evolutionary relationship between viruses and cells — organisms that exist outside the classical tree of life yet have fundamentally shaped it. Working with eukaryotic algae and large genomic datasets, he maps how genetic material moves between organisms and traces what he calls dark genomic lineages. His project is, in his own words, SETI with microscopes: searching for hidden biological diversity on Earth as a way of expanding how we might recognize life elsewhere.
Berlanga, a Frank Drake Fellow, studies the physical and chemical conditions that determine whether an environment can support life at all. Mars is his primary laboratory. He draws on controlled experiments, Earth-based field sites that mimic Martian conditions, and data from active rovers, then applies machine learning to predict how brines evolve and what habitability patterns emerge. For Berlanga, studying other planets is also a way of understanding what makes Earth worth protecting.
Deng, also a Frank Drake Fellow, works at the earliest stage of the story — the swirling disks of gas and dust around young stars from which planets eventually form. Using observations from ALMA and the James Webb Space Telescope alongside thermochemical modeling, he traces how materials move through these disks and what raw ingredients ultimately become available to coalescing worlds. His models aim to explain why planetary systems show such striking diversity in composition and habitability potential.
Nathalie Cabrol, director of the Carl Sagan Center, described the three appointments as a deliberate strategy to pursue a single question — how life emerges, evolves, and persists — across the full range of scales it inhabits. The fellows join four other postdoctoral researchers already at the Institute, supported by fellowships designed to give early-career scientists the freedom to work across disciplinary boundaries and develop into independent investigators. That investment, Cabrol noted, is ultimately an investment in the questions themselves.
The SETI Institute in Mountain View has brought on three postdoctoral researchers whose work spans the full arc of how life emerges and persists—from the molecular machinery of viruses to the planetary systems where worlds are born. L. Felipe Benites, Genesis Berlanga, and Dingshan Deng arrived in September 2026 to pursue research that, taken together, traces life's possibility across scales that most scientists study in isolation.
Benites, a Mino Fellow, investigates how viruses and cells have evolved, with particular attention to biological systems that don't fit neatly into traditional models of inheritance. He works with eukaryotic algae and the viruses that infect them, using large genomic datasets to map how genetic material moves between organisms and shapes evolutionary trajectories. Viruses exist outside the classical tree of life, yet they have fundamentally altered it—a paradox that makes them essential to understanding how life becomes complex. His project at the Institute, which he describes as SETI with microscopes, aims to illuminate what he calls dark genomic lineages using computational and optical methods. The underlying question driving his work is whether hidden forms of life still exist on Earth itself, and whether understanding that hidden diversity might change how we look for life elsewhere.
Berlanga, a Frank Drake Fellow, approaches the problem from a different angle: the physical and chemical conditions that either enable or forbid life. He studies how minerals and geochemistry regulate water availability, chemical gradients, and environmental stability—the factors that determine whether a place can actually support living things. Mars serves as his laboratory. He combines data from controlled experiments, field sites on Earth that mimic Martian conditions, and observations from rovers currently operating on the planet's surface. His fellowship project will integrate all three datasets and apply machine learning to predict how brines evolve and what habitability metrics emerge in Mars-analog environments. His motivation is both scientific and philosophical: studying other planets, he says, teaches us what makes Earth unique and how to protect it.
Deng, also a Frank Drake Fellow, works at an even earlier stage in the story—the protoplanetary disks of gas and dust that orbit young stars and eventually become planetary systems. He combines observations from the ALMA radio observatory and the James Webb Space Telescope with thermochemical modeling to understand how materials are distributed and transported through these disks. The composition and mass of a protoplanetary disk determine what raw materials are available as planets coalesce, including the volatile compounds that shape planetary atmospheres and habitability. His fellowship will develop models that trace planet-building materials from molecular gas to icy solids, revealing what ultimately becomes available to forming worlds and why planetary systems show such extraordinary diversity.
Nathalie Cabrol, director of the Carl Sagan Center at the SETI Institute, framed the three appointments as a deliberate strategy. What excites her about this cohort is the range of scales they bring to a single question: how does life emerge, evolve, and persist in the universe? The research moves from viruses and genomes through the environments that can sustain life to the cosmic disks where planets themselves are born. Following that question across scales is essential not just to knowing where life might exist, but to understanding how it becomes possible in the first place. This is the kind of interdisciplinary science the Institute aims to foster.
The three fellows join four other postdoctoral researchers already at the Institute. The Frank Drake Fellowship, named after the astronomer who formulated the Drake Equation, supports early-career scientists pursuing research connected to the search for life in the universe. The Mino Fellowship supports cross-disciplinary work on life's origins, planetary habitability, and the relationship between organisms and their environments. Together, these researchers represent the Institute's commitment to investing in the next generation of scientists—giving them the freedom to pursue ambitious ideas, work across traditional disciplinary boundaries, and develop into independent investigators. That investment, Cabrol notes, is also an investment in the future of the questions themselves.
Citas Notables
Could there still be hidden forms of life on our own planet? Exploring this hidden diversity on Earth may change how we search for life beyond Earth.— L. Felipe Benites
By following the water, we can broaden our search for extraterrestrial life and better understand our place in the universe.— Genesis Berlanga
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