September 20, 2024 1:30-3pm ET | 12:30pm CT | 10:30am PT
CEMB Friday Seminar (Zoom Link)
Speaker: Amy Strom, K99/R00 Fellow, LSRF Fellow, Princeton University
Title: Condensates and Chromatin: Genome (re)organization from surface tension

Abstract: Biomolecular condensates assemble in living cells through phase separation and related phase transitions. An underappreciated feature of these dynamic molecular assemblies is that they form interfaces with other cellular structures, including membranes, cytoskeleton, DNA and RNA, and other membraneless compartments. These interfaces are expected to give rise to capillary forces, but there are few ways of quantifying and harnessing these forces in living cells. In this seminar, I will introduce VECTOR (ViscoElastic Chromatin Tethering and ORganization), which uses light-inducible biomolecular condensates to generate capillary forces at targeted DNA loci. VECTOR can be utilized to programmably reposition genomic loci on a timescale of seconds to minutes, quantitatively revealing local heterogeneity in the viscoelastic material properties of chromatin. These synthetic condensates are built from components that naturally form liquid-like structures in living cells, highlighting the potential role for native condensates to generate forces and do work to reorganize the genome and impact chromatin architecture.