Dr Vassilia (Vassi) Spathis

About

Dr Vassilia Spathis started as a Forensic Science and Chemistry graduate, before acquiring a PhD in Physics in 2020. She has since been working as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Space Science and Astrochemistry at the University of Kent investigating whether hypervelocity impacts could be responsible for the synthesis of prebiotic molecules in our Solar System, with a particular focus on the outer Solar System icy moons.

Research interests

For life to have started in the Solar System, it is universally agreed that a base-set of complex organic molecules (e.g. amino acids, peptides etc.), along with water, were required. However, what was the source of such molecules? Our project looks into the potential shock synthesis of these compounds from materials ubiquitous in the Solar System to answer the question “Can molecules considered vital to the evolution of life be created through cometary or asteroidal impacts?”. We use the Kent Light Gas Gun facilities in order to simulate the impacts and fire onto a range of targets, and then use analytical chemistry and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry to analyse the samples.