Alongside his work at the university, Otto is also one of the six principal investigators of the Dutch national gravity programme for functional molecular systems (FMS; €26 million, over 10 years, 2013–2023).

[8] Otto was elected a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2020.

[9] The research conducted by Otto and his research group is focused on various fields, varying from the origin of life (self-replicating systems and the Darwinian evolution thereof), to materials chemistry (self-synthesizing fibres, hydrogels and nanoparticle surfaces).

The complex chemical mixtures that are designed, made and researched often display new properties that are relevant to understanding how new traits are able to arise in nature.

The final goal of all of this research is the de novo synthesis of new forms of life via the integration of self-replicating systems with metabolism and compartmentalization.