Proteins, lipids, and sugars generate organismal form and function; as a result, their composition encodes information on physiology and relationships. Although such biological signals are frequently explored in modern life forms, tools to integrate data from fossil remains of extinct biodiversity are lacking, rendering molecular insights into >3 billion years of Earth-Life interactions inaccessible. My lab challenges this paradigm of a ‘Molecular Gap’ between life past and present. We develop new technology and concepts to enable the experimental, observational, and theoretical deduction of first principles that determine the preservation of biological signals across physical parameter spaces on Earth and other solar system bodies. My lab translates these insights into integrative biosignatures that can be applied to reveal the mechanisms that drive the origin and evolution of life in response to environmental and ecological change, thereby inspiring future mitigation strategies.