Master student Ilona Kundi is presenting our recent investigations into thermally controlled liquid-liquid phase separations of biocondensates at the DPG Spring Meeting in Dresden, Germany.

Title of Poster:  3D Optofluidic Control Using Reconfigurable Thermal Barriers

Time/Date: 15-18.00 CET/11.03.2025

Place: TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany

Abstract:  
Liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) of biomolecules drives the for- mation of membraneless organelles in cells. The LLPS behavior of the intrinsically disordered N-terminal region of the DEAD-box helicase DDX4 (DDX4N) is examined under precisely controlled and reconfig- urable local temperature fields.
Locally tunable thermal landscapes are generated by scanning a focused laser beam over an absorbing metal thin film, creating mi- croscale temperature profiles around DDX4N condensates. Here, the spatiotemporal evolution of condensate nucleation, growth, coarsening, and dissolution is tracked, linking local thermal forces to mesoscale LLPS dynamics.
By repeatedly cycling the temperature across the LLPS boundary, kinetic and thermodynamic parameters of the DDX4N phase transition are measured, revealing switching thresholds, hysteresis, and conden- sate material properties. Controlled microthermal perturbations thus provide a powerful means to probe and program protein LLPS, es- tablishing a versatile platform for testing models of thermoresponsive intrinsically disordered proteins.