Biomolecular Condensates: Principles and Models, Jeong-Mo Choi

Over the past decade, the phase behavior of biomolecules has garnered significant attention, particularly due to its biological implications, such as the reversible formation and dissociation of biomolecular condensates. These condensates perform diverse and essential functions within cells, including the acceleration of chemical reactions. Recent advances aim to uncover the fundamental principles of these systems and harness them as tools for engineering cellular processes in synthetic biology. In this talk, I will discuss the key principles that govern the behaviors of biomolecular condensates and introduce several (semi-)analytical models that provide both qualitative insights and quantitative predictions. These models serve as a foundation for understanding and leveraging condensate-driven phenomena in biological systems.