Vera M. Kolb earned a BS in Chemical Engineering and an MS in organic chemistry from Belgrade University, followed by a PhD in organic chemistry at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. She was a Chemistry Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside from 1985-2016, and is now a Professor Emeritus. During her first sabbatical leave (1992-1994) she received training in astrobiology (then termed exobiology) at the NASA Specialized Center of Research and Training (NSCORT) in San Diego, where she has worked with Leslie Orgel at the Salk Institute, and Stanley Miller, at the University of California San Diego.

She has worked in the field of astrobiology ever since. In 1992 she received the University of Wisconsin-Parkside Award for Excellence in Research and Creative Activity. During her second sabbatical (2002-2003) she studied sugar organo-silicates and their astrobiological importance with Joseph Lambert, at Northwestern University. She was inducted in the Southeastern Wisconsin Educators' Hall of Fame in 2002. She is a recipient of numerous research and higher education grants and awards from the Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium/NASA, among others. At this time, she has published over 150 articles, including patents and books, in organic chemistry, medicinal chemistry, and astrobiology.

She has edited a book "Astrobiology, An Evolutionary Approach", for CRC Press, which was published in 2014. Her second book, "Green Organic Chemistry and its Interdisciplinary Applications", was published in 2016, also by CRC Press. Since both astrobiology and green chemistry study organic reactions in water, as in the primordial soup for astrobiology and as a benign solvent in green chemistry, the relationship between these two fields speaks of their true interdisciplinary characters.

Part 1. Astrobiology: Definition, scope, and education 1.1 Astrobiology: Definition and scope 1.2 Astrobiology goals: NASA Strategy and European roadmap1.3. Online, classroom and wilderness teaching environments: Reaching astrobiology learners of all ages around the world 1.4 Astrobiology as a medium for science education1.5?Astrobiology as Origins Story: Education and inspiration across cultures Part 2. Definition and nature of life 2.1 Definition of life: Multiple perspectives 2.2 A generalized and universalized definition of life applicable to extraterrestrial environments2.3 Synthetic life and minimal cell2.4 Communication as the main characteristic of life Part 3. Origin of life: History, philosophical aspects, and major developments 3.1 Philosophical aspects of the origin-of-life question: Neither by chance nor by design3.2 Charles Darwin and the Plurality of Worlds: Are we Alone?3.3 Origins of life: Early history, from Buffon to Oparin 3.4 Think life by studying its origins. A look on the second part of the 20th century Part 4. Chemical origins of life: Chemicals in the universe and their delivery on the early Earth. Geology and atmosphere on the early Earth. 4.1 Interstellar molecules and their prebiotic potential4.2 Formation and delivery of complex organic molecules to the Solar System and early Earth4.3 Organic molecules in meteorites and their astrobiological significance4.4 Ancient life and crust and mantle evolution4.5 Atmosphere on early Earth and its evolution as it impacted life Part 5. Chemical origin of life: Prebiotic chemistry. 5.1 Prebiotic chemistry that led to life5.2 Prebiotic chemical pathways to RNA and the importance of its compartmentation5.3 The hydrothermal impact crater-lakes: The c