14.07.2022
A quick intro to the Second Law of Thermodynamics
Have you ever seen a tepid cup of coffee getting hot? Or a pile of sand grains organizing themselves into a sand castle? It would be strange, right? But why? The reason is behind one of the most fundamental and general laws of physics: The Second Law of Thermodynamics. Prepared by Mariona Esquerda…
02.05.2022
A quick intro to Phase Separation
Ink and water mix but oil and water don’t. We all know this. But why? Mixing and demixing are relevant processes for many different systems: from the air, you breathe to metallic alloys on your car wheels, and to the smoothie on your breakfast. Recent research shows that these processes also take…
14.03.2022
A quick intro to Biomolecular Condensates
In schoolbooks, cells are generally pictured as a membrane bubble full of smaller compartments also wrapped by a membrane. In reality, things differ from this simple picture. There are many compartments that are not bound by a membrane. Learn what they are and their amazing properties in this 2…
28.01.2022
Centrosome Assembly
Hyman lab postdoc Jeff Woodruff describes the great unknowns of centrosome assembly and his plan of attack. Written and narrated by Jeff Woodruff. Produced by Lisa Dennison.
28.01.2022
Phase Transition in Disease
In this video and the accompanying Cell paper, the Tony Hyman and Simon Alberti groups at Max Planck Institute propose an interesting idea that aging cells fail to maintain the liquid phase of ALS-associated protein FUS. The FUS liquid compartment instead forms disease-link solid phase…
28.01.2022
Phase Transitions in Cells
Hyman lab postdoc Louise Jawerth tackles the phase transitions that occur within the cytoplasm. Written and narrated by Louise Jawerth. Produced by Lisa Dennison.
28.01.2022
Phase separation in cell polarity
In this video abstract, Shamba Saha tells you about his recent publication in Cell, “Polar Positioning of Phase-Separated Liquid Compartments in Cells Regulated by an mRNA Competition Mechanism.” Learn more in the full paper Saha et al. (2016) published in Cell,…
28.01.2022
Regulation of centrosome assembly by phosphorylation
In this video abstract, Oliver Wueseke tells you about his recent publication in Biology Open, “Polo-like kinase phosphorylation determines C.elegans centrosome size and density by biasing SPD-5 toward an assembly-competent conformation,” Learn more in the full paper Wueseke et al. (2016)…
28.01.2022
Building a synthetic centrosome
The centrosome is a structure in cells which is built every time the cell prepares to divide. In this video abstract, Jeff Woodruff explains how to build a centrosome in a test tube from purified proteins. He found that the centrosome acts like a sponge, which selectively soaks up the proteins…
28.01.2022
Microtubule nucleation through phase separation
Cells must build cytoskeleton structures, such as microtubules, where they are locally needed within the cell, but how do they do this? In this video abstract, Amayra Hernández-Vega explains that in a test tube, microtubules can be formed locally through phase separation. She also found that the…