Biomolecular Condensation in and out of equilibrium

Abstract: Demixed protein droplets formed by liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) are of interest across Soft Matter and Biological Physics, due to their ubiquity in compartmentalisation of biochemical reactions in cells. Within biological environments, these are known as biomolecular condensates.

In this seminar I will describe our recent efforts to understand how biomolecular condensation of intrinsically disordered proteins in regulated by their external environment, particularly in response to changes in ionic strength. I will also describe how advances in de novoprotein design have delivered a diversity of discrete de novo protein structures and complexes which allow the bottom-up design of self-assembled objects such as biomolecular condensates. I will show that using different strategies we can create functional condensates in bacterial and mammalian cells, using a Soft Matter Physics approach.