Biomolecular condensates are membraneless bodies that concentrate biomolecules. Many condensates form via reversible phase transitions and these transitions are driven by multivalent protein and RNA molecules. There is growing interest in the question of how condensates form, how they are regulated, how they dissolve, and how they contribute to cellular functions. The central role of condensates in dysregulation of cellular functions and the development of therapeutics that modulate condensates in bespoke ways is also an area of growing interest. These emerging interests call for a state-of-the-art appraisal of where things stand with respect to key questions regarding the encoding and modulation of the driving forces for condensate formation. In this three lecture series Rohit Pappu will provide an overview of the key physical principles underlying the sequence-to-phase behavior relationships of different archetypes of multivalent protein and RNA molecules. The lectures will largely stay focused on discoveries made individually and jointly by the Pappu lab and key collaborators over the past 3-4 years.

Part 1: Phase transitions of linear multivalent proteins. This lecture will introduce the basic physics of associative polymers, the stickers-and-spacers model and insights that emerge from the application of this model to describe the phase behavior of linear multivalent proteins. The focus will be on the phase diagrams of proteins with multiple folded domains connected by intrinsically disordered linkers. Concepts of excluded volume (effective solvation volume), differential solvation, and wetting behavior that gives rise to spatially organized condensates will be introduced.

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 CET

Note, this is the first talk in a three-part series.
Read more about part two here.
Read more about part three here.

See the video from part one here.
See the video from part two here.
See the video from part three here.

Create an Account or Sign In to register for the talk.