Related papers: Spatial control of irreversible protein aggregatio…
We introduce a stochastic model describing aggregation of misfolded proteins and degradation by the protein quality control system in a single cell. In analogy with existing literature, aggregates can grow, nucleate and fragment…
We develop a theory of aggregation using statistical mechanical methods. An example of a complicated aggregation system with several levels of structures is peptide/protein self-assembly. The problem of protein aggregation is important for…
Autocatalytic fibril nucleation has recently been proposed to be a determining factor for the spread of neurodegenerative diseases, but the same process could also be exploited to amplify minute quantities of protein aggregates in a…
Biomolecular condensates are liquid- or gel-like droplets of proteins and nucleic acids formed at least in part through liquid-liquid phase separation. Condensates enable diverse functions of cells and the pathogens that infect them,…
The mammalian cell membrane is embedded with biomolecular condensates of protein and lipid clusters, which interact with an underlying viscoelastic cytoskeleton network to organize the cell surface and mechanically interact with the…
Understanding protein self-assembly is important for many biological and industrial processes. Proteins can self-assemble into crystals, filaments, gels, and other amorphous aggregates. The final forms include virus capsids and condensed…
Membrane bending is an extensively studied problem from both modeling and experimental perspectives because of the wide implications of curvature generation in cell biology. Many of the curvature generating aspects in membranes can be…
Phase separation in passive systems leads to uncontrolled droplet growth, limiting structural control in soft materials and cells. We identify a generic mechanism to arrest coarsening based on chemical interconversion between molecular…
We report an experimental approach to control the position of molecular aggregates on surfaces by vacuum deposition. The control is accomplished by regulating the molecular density on the surface in a confined area. The diffusing molecules…
Proteins and nucleic acids can spontaneously self-assemble into membraneless droplet-like compartments, both in vitro and in vivo. A key component of these droplets are multi-valent proteins that possess several adhesive domains with…
Protein aggregates in the brain play a central role in cognitive decline and structural damage associated with neurodegenerative diseases. For instance, in Alzheimer's disease the formation of Amyloid-beta plaques and tau proteins…
Macroscopic properties of suspensions, such as those composed of globular particles (e.g., colloidal or macromolecular), can be tuned by controlling the equilibrium aggregation of the particles. We examine how aggregation -- and, hence,…
Under favourable conditions, many proteins can assemble into macroscopically large aggregate's, Parkinson's and other neurological and systemic diseases. The overall process of protein aggregation is characterized by initial lag time during…
We investigate theoretically the behavior of proteins as well as other large macromolecules which are incorporated into amphiphilic monolayers at the air-water interface. We assume the monolayer to be in the coexistence region of the…
In living cells, proteins self-assemble into large functional structures based on specific interactions between molecularly complex patches. Due to this complexity, protein self-assembly results from a competition between a large number of…
The phase behavior of membrane proteins stems from a complex synergy with the amphiphilic molecules required for their solubilization. We show that ionization of a pH-sensitive surfactant, LDAO, bound to a bacterial photosynthetic protein,…
Phase separation of intrinsically disordered proteins is important for the formation of membraneless organelles, or biomolecular condensates, which play key roles in the regulation of biochemical processes within cells. In this work, we…
The surface curvature of membranes, interfaces, and substrates plays a crucial role in shaping the self-assembly of particles adsorbed on these surfaces. However, little is known about the interplay between particle anisotropy and surface…
Protein aggregates exhibit diverse morphology, exemplified by amyloid fibrils, gel-like structures, and liquid-like condensates. Differences in the morphologies in identical proteins play important functional roles in several diseases.…
Motivated by the observations of intracellular phase separations and the wetting of cell membranes by protein droplets, we study the nonequilibrium surface wetting by Monte Carlo simulations of a lattice gas model involving particle…