Abstract

The absence of clear criteria to recognize life and evaluate attempts at building a cell from component parts has slowed progress towards the construction of cellular mimics that fully display the properties of natural living cells. In the first part of this PhD thesis, a method to objectively quantify progress is proposed. In the second part of the thesis, preliminary results are shown and discussed for the construction of out-of-equilibrium cellular mimics generated by thermal gradients that do not rely on compartments made from lipid membranes.