Transformative discoveries over the past decade have shown that many proteins phase separate inside cells to create membraneless compartments known as biomolecular condensates. These phase separated organelles provide spatial and temporal control over cellular processes ranging from gene transcription to stress response. However, the ability to design biomolecular condensates is still in its infancy. Understanding the physical principles and biological function of these non-canonical organelles can lead to breakthrough disease treatments and new opportunities to engineer cell function.

 Learn more about our engineered biomolecular condensates:

Yeong, V.; Werth, E.G.; Brown, L.M.; Obermeyer, A.C.* Formation of biomolecular condensates in bacteria by tuning protein electrostatics. ACS Central Science, 2020, 6, 2301. [link]

Yeong, V.; Wang. J-W.; Horn, J.M.; Obermeyer, A.C.* Intracellular phase separation of globular proteins facilitated by short cationic peptides. Nat. Commun., 2022, 13, 7882. [link]

Liao, J.; Yeong, V.; Obermeyer, A.C.* Charge-patterned disordered peptides tune intracellular phase separation in bacteria. [bioRxiv preprint]

 Learn more about other Engineered biomolecular condensates:

Dai, Y.; You, L.; Chilkoti, A. Engineering synthetic biomolecular condensates. Nat. Rev. Bioeng. 2023, 1, 466-480. [link]

Ge, X.; Conley, A.J.; Brandle, J.E.; Truant, R.; Filipe, C.D.M. In vivo formation of protein based aqueous microcompartments. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2009, 131, 9094-9099. [link]

Dzuricky, M.; Rogers, B.A.; Shahid, A.; Cremer, P.S.; Chilkoti, A. De novo engineering of intracellular condensates using artificial disordered proteins. Nat. Chem. 2020, 12, 815-825. [link]

Tomares, D.T.; Whitlock, S.; Mann, M.; DiBernardo, E.; Childers, W.S. Repurposing nanomaterials as synthetic biomolecular condensates in bacteria. ACS Synth. Biol., 2022, 11, 2154-2162. [link]

Lasker, K.; Boeynaems, S.; Lam, V.; Scholl, D.; Stainton, E.; Briner, A.; Jacquemyn, M.; Daelemans, D.; Deniz, A.; Villa, E.; Holehouse, A.S.; Gitler, A.D.; Shapiro, L. Nat. Commun. 2022, 13, 5643. [link]