Get ready to dive into the Free Energy!

Cells can be described as systems made of different phases. For instance, biomolecular condensates are dense droplets of proteins that coexist with the rest of the cytoplasm. Thermodynamics is a helpful theoretical framework to understand phases in cells. In this video, we explain the concept of Free Energy of a mixture and we see how can we predict the equilibrium state of the system from the Free Energy.

Prepared by Mariona Esquerda Ciutat from the Hyman and Jülicher labs in Dresden.

The post Diving into the Free Energy: Part 1 appeared first on RTG 3120 Biomolecular Condensates.

Get ready to dive into the Free Energy!

If we want to understand phases in cells we need to talk about the Free Energy of a thermodynamic system. This is the second part of the video “Diving into the Free Energy”. In this video, we will understand how thermodynamic mixtures reach equilibrium by minimising the Free Energy. We will see that asking if a mixture will phase-separate or not is the same as asking what is the minimum energy allowed for the mixture. Not only that, but we will also show how the Binodal line on the Phase Diagram directly emerges from the Free Energy!

Prepared by Mariona Esquerda Ciutat from the Hyman and Jülicher labs in Dresden.

The post Diving into the Free Energy: Part 2 appeared first on RTG 3120 Biomolecular Condensates.

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 place inside cells! Biomolecules can be mixed with the liquid interior of the cell. Sometimes these molecules demix and form droplets like oil in water. A mechanism to assemble these droplets is assembled through a process called Phase Separation. This video is a short introduction to the physics of Phase Separation.

Prepared by Mariona Esquerda Ciutat from the Hyman and Jülicher labs in Dresden.

The post A quick intro to Phase Separation appeared first on RTG 3120 Biomolecular Condensates.