# Sandra Pizzarello

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**Sandra Pizzarello** (24 April 1933 – 24 October 2021) was an Italian biochemist known for her co-discovery of [amino acid](/source/Amino_acid) [enantiomeric excess](/source/Enantiomeric_excess) in [carbonaceous chondrite meteorites](/source/Carbonaceous_chondrites). Her research interests concerned the characterization of meteoritic [organic compounds](/source/Organic_compound) in elucidating the [evolution](/source/Stellar_nucleosynthesis) of planetary [homochirality](/source/Homochirality). Pizzarello was a project collaborator and co-investigator for the [NASA Astrobiology Institute](/source/NASA_Astrobiology_Institute) (NAI), the president of the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life (2014-2017), and an [emerita](/source/Emeritus) professor at [Arizona State University](/source/Arizona_State_University) (ASU).

## Early life and education

Sandra Pizzarello was born in [Venice](/source/Venice), [Italy](/source/Italy) on 24 April 1933. In 1955, she graduated *[summa cum laude](/source/Latin_honors)* from the [University of Padua](/source/University_of_Padua) earning her [Doctor of Biological Sciences](/source/Doctorate) degree under her adviser Professor Roncato. Pizzarello went on to work as a research associate developing tranquilizers for Farmitalia Research Laboratories in the Department of Neuropharmacology. Over the course of several years, Pizzarello transitioned from research to raising a family. Following a career opportunity for her husband, an aeronautical engineer and computer scientist, she moved her family to [Phoenix, Arizona](/source/Phoenix,_Arizona) in 1970.

Once Pizzarello's youngest of four children finished primary school, her focus returned to her career after a decade away from [scientific research](/source/Scientific_research). She audited a graduate [biochemistry](/source/Biochemistry) seminar course at [ASU](/source/Arizona_State_University) where she met Professor [John Read Cronin](/source/John_Read_Cronin), future co-discoverer of [amino acid](/source/Amino_acid) [enantiomeric excess](/source/Enantiomeric_excess) in [meteorites](/source/Meteorite). Due to her outstanding performance in the course, she was offered a job to work with Cronin at the university as a research professor in analyzing the recently recovered [Murchison meteorite](/source/Murchison_meteorite).

Sandra Pizzarello died on 24 October 2021, at the age of 88.[1][2]

## Research

Sandra Pizzarello's research over the last forty years involved the analysis of [organic compounds](/source/Organic_compound) in several [carbonaceous chondrites](/source/Carbonaceous_chondrite), particularly [molecular](/source/Molecule), [chiral](/source/Chirality_(chemistry)), and [isotopic](/source/Isotopic_signature) characterization of [amino acids](/source/Amino_acid). Because the formation of these organic-rich meteorites pre-date the [origin of life](/source/Abiogenesis), they had been under investigation as potential sites of primal [organic compounds](/source/Organic_compound) which could shed light on [abiogenesis](/source/Abiogenesis), specifically the origin of biological [homochirality](/source/Homochirality).[3] Such studies, however, had been inconclusive until 1997 when Cronin and Pizzarello detected 7-9% L-[enantiomeric excesses](/source/Enantiomeric_excess) of three abiological amino acids while analyzing the [Murchison meteorite](/source/Murchison_meteorite).[3]

Given Earth's history of meteoric impacts and the observation that meteors contain an excess of the biologically relevant L-[stereoisomer](/source/Stereoisomerism) of certain [amino acids](/source/Amino_acid), Pizzarello studied the effect of meteoritic [amino acids](/source/Amino_acid) in [enantiomeric excess](/source/Enantiomeric_excess) on the formation of other [biological molecules](/source/Biomolecule).[4] In one study, Pizzarello found that nonracemic solutions of abiological [isovaline](/source/Isovaline) and [proteinogenic](/source/Proteinogenic_amino_acid) [alanine](/source/Alanine) can direct the condensation of [glycolaldehyde](/source/Glycolaldehyde) to produce nonracemic solutions of [threose](/source/Threose) and [erythrose](/source/Erythrose) via an [aldol reaction](/source/Aldol_reaction) concluding that [amino acids](/source/Amino_acid) can act as [asymmetric catalysts](/source/Asymmetric_catalyst) in [carbohydrate](/source/Carbohydrate) synthesis.[4] These findings support the origin of life hypothesis that homochirality originated prior to life and from [extraterrestrial](/source/Extraterrestrial_life) origins.[4] However, Pizzarello's theoretical inquiries into [cosmochemical evolution](/source/Cosmochemistry) remain debated based on suspect analytical evidence of meteoritic [enantiomeric excesses](/source/Enantiomeric_excess).[5][6][7]

## External links

1. [# https://nai.nasa.gov/directory/pizzarello-sandra/ NASA.gov](https://web.archive.org/web/20011117041042/http://www.issol.org/)
1. [https://webapp4.asu.edu/directory/person/274781](https://webapp4.asu.edu/directory/person/274781)

## References

1. ["In Memoriam: Sandra Pizzarello"](https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/news/in-memoriam-sandra-pizzarello/) (in en-EN). *astrobiology.nasa.gov*. Retrieved 2021-11-22.

1. ["In Memoriam: Emeritus Professor Sandra Pizzarello"](https://news.asu.edu/20211029-memoriam-emeritus-professor-sandra-pizzarello). *ASU News*. 2021-10-29. Retrieved 2021-11-22.

1. Cronin, John R. & Pizzarello, Sandra (1997). "Enantiomeric Excesses in Meteoritic Amino Acids". *Science*. **275** (5302): 951–955. [Bibcode:1997Sci...275..951C](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1997Sci...275..951C). [doi:10.1126/science.275.5302.951](https://doi.org/10.1126/science.275.5302.951). [ISSN 0036-8075](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0036-8075). [PMID 9020072](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9020072). [S2CID 10979716](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:10979716)

1. Pizzarello, Sandra & Weber, Arthur L. (2004). "Prebiotic Amino Acids as Asymmetric Catalysts". *Science*. **303** (5661): 1151. [CiteSeerX 10.1.1.1028.833](https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.1028.833). [doi:10.1126/science.1093057](https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1093057). [ISSN 0036-8075](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0036-8075). [PMID 14976304](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14976304). [S2CID 42199392](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:42199392)

1. Elsila, Jamie E.; Glavin, Daniel P.; Dworkin, Jason P.; Martins, Zita; Bada, Jeffrey L. (2012-11-27). "Inconclusive evidence for nonterrestrial isoleucine enantiomeric excesses in primitive meteorites". *Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences*. **109** (48): E3288. [Bibcode:2012PNAS..109E3288E](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2012PNAS..109E3288E). [doi:10.1073/pnas.1213261109](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1213261109). [ISSN 0027-8424](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0027-8424). [PMC 3511738](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3511738). [PMID 23064644](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23064644)

1. Pizzarello, Sandra & Monroe, Adam A. (2012). "Reply to Elsila et al.: Large enantiomeric excesses in primitive meteorites, an analytical and computational supplement". *Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences*. **109** (48): E3289. [Bibcode:2012PNAS..109E3289P](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2012PNAS..109E3289P). [doi:10.1073/pnas.1213714109](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1213714109). [ISSN 0027-8424](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0027-8424). [PMC 3511719](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3511719)

1. Pizzarello, Sandra; Schrader, Devin L.; Monroe, Adam A.; Lauretta, Dante S. (2012). "Large enantiomeric excesses in primitive meteorites and the diverse effects of water in cosmochemical evolution". *Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences*. **109** (30): 11949–11954. [Bibcode:2012PNAS..10911949P](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2012PNAS..10911949P). [doi:10.1073/pnas.1204865109](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1204865109). [ISSN 0027-8424](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0027-8424). [PMC 3409747](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3409747). [PMID 22778439](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22778439)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Sandra Pizzarello](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandra_Pizzarello) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandra_Pizzarello?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.