We wrote a review on the physics of condensates in cells. In particular, we focus on physical processes that allow cells to regulate condensates, given that the environment is much more complex compared to typical droplets studied in soft matter physics.

We published multiple papers in the first half of 2024! We study how higher-order interactions, wall affinity, membrane binding and dimerization, as well as non-local elasticity affect phase separation. All these papers will help us to better understand how condensates form in cells.

We published a new pre-print on a theory of Elastic Microphase Separation explaining recent experiments. In the experiments, phase separation in an elastic PDMS gel lead to regular patterns whose length scale decreased for stiffer meshes. Our theory based on nonlocal elasticity explains this behavior and the observed continuous phase transition.

Our paper on the “Nucleation of chemically active droplets” has been published in PRL. In this work spearheaded by Noah Ziethen, we wondered how chemical reactions affect the rate at which droplets emerge. Our numerical simulations and analytical theory indicate that reactions generally suppress nucleation when the dilute phase is stable.

In our latest manuscript, we show that Physical interactions promote Turing patterns. We looked at reaction-diffusion systems where components interact physically. To our surprise, even weak interactions help create Turing patterns, thus widening the parameter range where patterns appear.