Our group is elucidating with multi-scale simulations how phase separation can provide for specific regulation in biology and how dysregulation of phase separation can lead to disease.
Our group has joined the collaborative research project TRR146 Multiscale Simulation Methods for Soft-Matter Systems for its third funding period with a joint project with Thomas Speck.
Multi-scale simulations of TDP-43. Left: Phase-separated condensate of the disordered domain of TDP-43 from coarse-grained simulation. Centre: Details of water-binding to sites to serines residues in C-terminus of the disordered domain from atomistic simulations of a TDP-43 condensate. Right: Atomistic simulation of phosphomicking 12D mutant shows more water molecules are bound at sites of phosphomimcking mutations compared to wild-type TDP-43. Figure adapted from Grujis da Silva et al EMBO J, 2022