Chemistry meets Astrophysics: pathways to life-enabling ingredients during planet formation

The project investigates the chemistry of planet-forming disks to uncover the pathways through which life-enabling ingredients emerge. With cutting-edge infrared and radio observations from JWST and ALMA, my team and I will probe the volatile and solid reservoirs in disks. We aim to determine whether water is primarily formed in situ or transported from the outer disk, quantify contributions from pebble accretion and collisions of planetesimals, and constrain the D/H ratio in water ice—a key tracer of chemical processing. By integrating disk observations with meteoritic data, we will link disk chemistry to Solar System records. This interdisciplinary project bridges astrophysics and chemistry to answer fundamental questions about planetary origins and habitability. The research will establish a new synergy at the Niels Bohr Institute, providing critical observational input to theoretical models and positioning Denmark at the forefront of planet formation science in the JWST era.