Research Projects

The improper formation and spatiotemporal response of membraneless biomolecular condensates are linked to malfunctioning cellular activities, leading to diseases such as neurodegeneration, cancer, and infectious diseases. Their formation and organizational pattern are highly subtle and dynamic in nature. While there are several reports encompassing the guideline principles for the formation, stability, compartmentalization, and catalytic properties of biomolecular condensates in homogeneous environments, their behavior has not been explored systematically in heterogeneous microenvironments with pH, metal ions, or osmolytes. This project aims to explore the chemotactic propensity of neutral peptide and oppositely charged (oligo)peptide/(oligo)nucleotide condensate in response to concentration gradients of different salts, osmolytes, and macromolecular crowding agents in microfluidic conditions. It also aims to investigate the dynamic spatiotemporal organization pattern of biomolecular condensates in a microenvironment with glucose and ATP-dependent chemical reaction network involving catalytic reactions of glycolytic pathway. The project will also investigate the role of biomolecular condensate for the incorporation of biological methylating agent S-adenosylmethionine in biochemical pathways and its spatiotemporal organizational impact on the whole system. The project will bring new knowledge in defining phoretic drift and spatiotemporal organization of biomolecular condensates due to binding and catalytically-driven reaction-diffusion systems, which has far-reaching significance in deciphering their dynamic organizational role in disease-specific cellular physiology.