The cell nucleus displays a striking, widely conserved spatial compartmentalization. Inactive regions of the genome are sequestered to and compacted within a distinct comparment; active regions of the genome are […]
Small RNA silencing serves to regulate genes but also as a defense against pathogens and selfish genetic elements. In insects, a specialization of small RNAs and their biogenesis factors for […]
Intracellular membraneless organelles (MOs) form dynamically and thermodynamically reversible via liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS). The molecular processes that drive MO formation are largely unknown, but recent deletion experiments showed that […]
Aberrant liquid-to-solid phase transitions of RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) with prion-like low complexity domains (LCD) are thought to underlie the formation of pathological RBP aggregates in a number of neurodegenerative diseases, […]
Membrane-less organelles in the nucleus of mammalian cells have been suggested recently to assemble and function via LLPS mechanisms. One main driver of LLPS at PML NBs appears to be […]
Recent studies have demonstrated that membrane-less condensates assemble by liquid-liquid phase separation of proteins that share multivalency, intrinsic disorder and low complexity sequences as common characteristics. The details of the […]
Transcription of protein-coding genes by RNA polymerase II (Pol II) is highly regulated during cell differentiation and organismal development. In human cells, Pol II transcription is regulated by ~1,600 transcription […]
Transcription hubs of transcription factors and RNA polymerase II have been observed in tissue culture cells and embryos. These transcription hubs are assembled through a phase separation mechanism driven by […]
The neuronal tau protein is involved in the regulation of the axonal microtubule skeleton in the brain. In neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Frontotemporal dementia (FTD), tau […]
This project led by the Alberti and Guck teams will develop a new combined fluorescence, optical diffraction tomography and Brillouin (FOB) microscope and to use FOB microscopy to study physiological […]
The Alberti and Seidel teams will join forces to investigate the conformational dynamics of Fused in Sarcom (FUS) in vitro and in living cells using cutting-edge single molecule technology such […]