“A New Phase of Biological Controls- A design framework for programmable synthetic biomolecular condensates and the mechanisms of a functional liquid-liquid interface”

Hosted by the Department of Biomedical Engineering

Registration is required to attend virtually. Please register.

Abstract: A fundamental question in nature is how the cellular processes are organized with sequential and spatial precision in a dynamic and densely packed environment. Evidence is now mounting that biomolecular condensation, a demixing process mediated by phase separation coupled to percolation, dictates the organization principles of cellular biochemistry. From the perspective of synthetic biology, programmable condensation in living cells represents a new fundamental capability for biological design, going beyond the current engineering capability of lock-and-key interactions. In the first part of the talk, I will introduce a rational design strategy of synthetic intrinsically disordered proteins toward functional synthetic biomolecular condensates for cellular controls in bacteria and human cells. I will demonstrate the applications of synthetic condensates on four distinct cellular processes: cell division, transcription, translation, and modulation of protein circuits, providing a toolbox for orthogonal central dogma.

In the second part of the talk, I will dig into the physical chemistry principles of condensate microenvironments, by which condensates can encode unique electrochemical features at its liquid-liquid interface. I will introduce a theoretical framework we developed for condensate interface, which allows us to understand the density transition process of condensate formation from the perspective of electrochemistry. I will then discuss our experimental discoveries on the fundamental electrochemical properties of liquid-liquid interface and how these features can regulate cellular processes. These discoveries open new directions of condensate research and provide answers for many previously unexplained biological activities of biomolecular condensates.

Full schedule, BME Seminars

For inquires contact Mimi Hilburg.