Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation: Interactions, Function, and Disease

Originally Aired: March 15, 2018

How do cells organize their contents into functional compartments? The conventional view has been that cellular compartmentalization is largely achieved through the formation of membrane-bound organelles, but paradigm-shifting advances over the past few years have revealed a rich level of cellular organization mediated by non-membrane-bound liquid organelles in the nucleus and the cytoplasm. These organelles affect many aspects of fundamental cell biology, and their dysfunction is increasingly recognized as the basis of human diseases such as cancer and neurodegeneration.

Evidence is mounting that these organelles are formed though liquid-liquid phase separation, a process in which biomacromolecules de-mix from solution and form a separate liquid phase. In this webinar, experts will discuss interactions underlying liquid-liquid phase separation, the emergent material properties of the resulting meso-scale assemblies, and the functional benefits mediated by phase separation. Understanding phase separation will thus reveal biophysical mechanisms underlying spatial organization and biochemical regulation in cell biology.