Jan Špaček

Jan Špaček (born 16 June 1986) is a Czech molecular biologist, analytical chemist and astrobiologist. He is based in Florida, United States and is a senior research scientist at the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution (FfAME) and the founder and CEO of both IMPRESS Spaceworks Co. and the Agnostic Life Finding Association Inc. The former develops planetary penetrators to deliver science experiments to Mars, while the latter focuses on promoting the search for life on Mars. His work focuses on life detection technologies, planetary chemistry, and the development of instrumentation for space missions. Špaček is known for proposing an Organic Carbon Cycle in the atmosphere of Venus and for inventing the Agnostic Life Finder (ALF) instrument to screen Martian water for known or alien genetic polymers.

Early life and education Špaček was born in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia. He earned all his academic degrees from Masaryk University in Brno. He received a B.Sc. in Molecular Biology and Genetics in 2009, an M.Sc. in 2011, and a Ph.D. in Genomics and Proteomics in 2018, where he undertook several international internships and visiting scholar positions.

Early research (2008–2020) From 2008 to 2020, Špaček was a member of the Department of Biophysical Chemistry and Molecular Oncology at the Institute of Biophysics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. Concurrently, from 2011 to 2020, he was affiliated with the Department of Structure and Interaction of Biomolecules at Surfaces at CEITEC, Masaryk University. His early research focused on the electrochemical characterization of nucleic acids, including natural, modified, and unnatural nucleic acids. He developed an electrochemical "footprinting" technique to study DNA-protein interactions and developed a new method for electrochemical detection of unnatural base pairs in DNA, sensitive enough to detect single unnatural bases in plasmids from semi-synthetic organisms.

U.S. collaborations and shift to astrobiology During his time at UC San Diego in 2018–2019, Špaček advanced his studies of natural nucleotides and unnatural nucleosides, leading to collaboration with synthetic biology pioneer Steven Benner. He later joined Benner's lab (Firebird Biomolecular Sciences) as a Senior Research Scientist in 2020, and began working at FfAME in 2023. to develop the International Mars Prospecting Ride-Share System (IMPRESS), a distributed Mars exploration architecture based on planetary penetrators. (formerly Venus Life Finder), aimed at exploring the atmosphere of Venus. His research contributed to the development of the autofluorescence nephelometer on the first Morning Star Mission.

He is also the inventor and lead developer of the Agnostic Life Finder (ALF) instrument, and is currently in development at FfAME.

Špaček advocates for the search for extant life on Mars before we send humans there. To advance this cause Špaček started ALFA Mars,

Science communication Špaček has contributed to the science blog Primordial Scoop since 2021, advocating for critical thinking in astrobiology. He has delivered numerous public talks, appeared on podcasts, and been featured in various media outlets.