Biomolecular condensates are dynamic and reversible membrane-less compartments that organize proteins and nucleic acids in time and space (Banani et al. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 2017). They assemble via multivalent interactions between components and serve to increase the local concentration of a select molecular community. They are implicated in an ever-increasing number of cellular functions including stress responses, RNA metabolism, transcription, and signal transduction, among others (Alberti, Gladfelter, Mittag. Cell 2019). This introductory-level talk will cover ‘condensate biophysics 101′, beginning with the concepts of biomolecular demixing and phase diagrams and then applying this conceptualization to two examples of condensates in cell physiology and disease.
Misregulation of condensates has been implicated in diverse and multifactorial diseases such as neurodegeneration, cancer, and viral infections (Alberti and Dormann. Ann Rev Gen 2019). I will therefore present key literature findings depicting aberrant condensates as integrating nodes of disease, using work from Tony Hyman’s lab on stress granules in ALS pathology as an index case (Patel et al. Cell 2015). I will extend these principles to review work from Richard Young’s lab revealing the role for biomolecular condensates in regulating gene expression, with implications for cancer (Boija et al. Cell 2018; Klein et al. Science 2020; Boija, Klein, Young. Cancer Cell 2020).
The papers and discoveries I will review contributed to Dewpoint’s foundation. Our challenge is to translate these and other discoveries, made by Dewpoint scientists and the field more broadly, to drug discovery. I will conclude by providing a broad overview of Dewpoint’s approach and how we combine expertise in condensate biology and drug discovery in the pursuit of breakthrough medicines.
Talk by:
Bede Portz
Dewpoint Therapeutics
Start time in various timezones:
7:00 am PDT
9:00 am CDT
10:00 am EDT
2:00 pm UTC
3:00 pm BST
4:00 pm CEST
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