Aaron Goldman

  • Professor of Biology

Areas of Study

Education

  • BA, Swarthmore College, 2003
  • PhD, University of Washington, 2010
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Princeton University, 2010-2013

Biography

My primary research interests revolve around the early history of life on Earth as understood from the perspective of molecular evolution. The evolutionary tree of life coalesces into a single root representing an ancestral population that lived more than 3.5 billion years ago. Many features of these ancestors are still buried within the genomes of organisms alive today, but evolution over billions of years has obscured the ancient signature of most of these features. Our lab takes advantage of the tremendous growth in genomic and proteomic data and the continued development of computational tools to find these ancient genes and protein, characterize their ancestral functions, and use them to understand what the very earliest organisms were like. If you would like to know more, please visit the Goldman lab website.

Fall 2025

Astrobiology: The Scientific Search for Extraterrestrial Life — FYSP 069

Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, and Biochemistry Lecture — BIOL 223

Spring 2026

Evolution — BIOL 318

Origin(s) of Life — BIOL 407

  • Kailing F*, Lieberman J*, Wang J*, Turner JL*, Goldman AD (2024) Evolution of cellular organization along the first branches of the tree of life. J Mol Evol, 92(5):618-623
  • Goldman AD, Weber JM, LaRowe DE, Barge LM (2023) Electron transport chains as a window into the earliest stages of evolution. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 120(34):e2210924120
  • Goldman AD (2023) How did life become cellular? Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 290(1992):20222327
  • Crapitto AJ*, Campbell A*, Harris A-J, Goldman AD (2022) A Consensus View of the Proteome of the Last Universal Common Ancestor. Ecology and Evolution, 12:e8930.
  • Harris AJ, Goldman AD (2021) The very early evolution of protein translocation across membranes. PLoS Computational Biology, 17(3): e1008623
  • Goldman AD, Kaçar B (2021) Cofactors are remnants of life’s origin and early evolution. Journal of Molecular Evolution, 89:127–133.
  • Takagi YA*, Nguyen DH*, Wexler TB, Goldman AD (2020) The Coevolution of cellularity and metabolism following the origin of life Journal of Molecular Evolution, 88:598–617.

* indicates Oberlin undergraduate coauthor

See Google Scholar for a complete list of publications.

News

Why All Life on Earth is Made of Cells

From a very young age, we’re taught that being made of cells is a defining feature of life. In fact, associate professor of biology Aaron Goldman encountered this assumption in a college textbook and initially used it as a springboard to discuss the benefits of cellularity with his students. But the more Goldman thought about it, the more he realized that cellularity isn’t something to be taken for granted—even (and especially) when it comes to the origins of life.

Fins to the Left (and Right)

Biology major Jules Lieberman to study shark and ray migratory patterns through NOAA Hollings Scholarship.

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