As part of its lecture series, the Department of Life Sciences and Health Technologies invites all interested parties to attend the following lecture:

Prof. Dr. Ilya Digel (FH Aachen): Signs of Life and Life Sciences: Detecting Life at the Edge and Beyond

16.04.2026 | 09:00-10:30 h| Online

The lecture will introduce the theoretical foundations and methodological strategies used to detect life on Earth and in extraterrestrial settings, with a particular focus on astrobiology. Rather than relying on rigid definitions of life, modern life-detection approaches emphasize observable processes such as traces of metabolism, growth, adaptation and interaction with the environment.

Using striking examples from microbial ecology and extremophile research, the lecture will highlight the extraordinary metabolic versatility and survival capabilities of microorganisms inhabiting Earth’s most hostile environments, ranging from deep subsurface ecosystems and anoxic sediments to polar ice and radiation-exposed habitats. These systems serve as natural laboratories for developing and validating biosignatures and life-detection methods relevant to planetary exploration. The presentation will further discuss key detection strategies, including morphology- and motility-based observations, metabolic and chemical biosignatures, as well as data-driven analytical approaches. By bridging life sciences with engineering and planetary science, the lecture should illustrate how Earth-based studies inform the search for life “at the edge” of habitability and beyond our planet, offering insights into how life might reveal itself elsewhere in the universe.

The access data can be requested from the department coordinator.