Portrait from Ellen Adams
© TUD CMCB, Magdalena Gonciarz

Expertise

The Adams group has a strong background in physical chemistry and soft matter physics, utilizing spectroscopic methods. Key research topics include solvation dynamics, specific ion effects, and protein-water interactions1. In recent years, the group has developed spectroscopic methods for probing the solvent environment in biomolecular condensates, which revealed that release of hydration water is an entropic driving force for liquid-liquid phase separation1,2.

References:

  1. Adams et al. Local Mutations Can Serve as a Game Changer for Global Protein Solvent Interaction. JACS Au. 2021;1(7):1076-1085. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacsau.1c00155
  2. Ahlers, Adams et al. The key role of solvent in condensation: Mapping water in liquid-liquid phase-separated FUS. Biophys J. 2021;120(7):1266-1275. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpj.2021.01.019
The stripping away of less favorable hydration water drives the liquid-liquid phase separation of intrinsically disordered proteins, leading to a constrained hydration environment within the phase separated condensates

Ellen Adams Group

Physical chemistry of biomolecular condensates

Discipline: Physical Chemistry
Affiliation: Physics of Life (TU Dresden) | Helmholtz Zentrum Dresden Rossendorf (HZDR) | Dresden Concept
Contact: ellen_marie.adams (at) tu-dresden (dot) de

Funding

Current news by this research group

RTG 3120

New Research Training Group for Biomolecular Condensates in Dresden

The DFG approved a funding application to establish a new Research Training Group (RTG 3120) in Dresden to train PhD students interdisciplinary methods and approaches to study Biomolecular Condensates. Read the press releases for more:…

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Jan Brugués Group,Programs,careers,Marcus Jahnel Group,Ellen Adams Group,Physics of Life

Physics of Life Excellence Postdoctoral Fellowships

Join research groups at the Physics of Life (PoL) as a postdoc by applying to a PoL Excellence Postdoctoral Fellowship and benefit from up to 4-year funded position in association with PoL groups and the Mentorship program. Applicants should hold a PhD in Physics, Biology or related fields (at the…

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Publications,Ellen Adams Group

The key role of solvent in condensation: Mapping water in liquid-liquid phase-separated FUS

What drives the formation of biomolecular condensates from proteins in water? The Adams group, in collaboration with colleagues from Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany, measured the thermodynamic forces leading to the expulsion of water from condensates as they form through protein-protein…

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