New tools detail the dynamic world of cell organization
Elie Dolgin • February 27, 2024
Imaging and molecular manipulation reveal how ‘condensates’ form and offer clues to the role of phase separation in health and disease.
The cells glow green under the high-powered microscope, each bedazzled with a constellation of luminous proteins and RNA that, like oil droplets in water, have huddled together through a process known as phase separation.
A foundational concept in the fields of engineering, chemistry and physics, phase separation — the mechanism by which complex mixtures segregate into distinct components — is beginning to revolutionize biology as well. The process is being hailed as a key organizing principle of the cell.
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