Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation: Undergraduate Labs on a New Paradigm for Intracellular Organization

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Excerpt of abstract: Recent work has shown that the intracellular environment is organized not only through membrane-bound organelles but also through fluid droplets that emerge through liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS). Intracellular LLPS has attracted recent attention because these fluid droplets, termed biomolecular condensates or membraneless organelles, seem to play important roles in cells' responses to stress, gene regulation, and pathologies. Our understanding of intracellular LLPS has advanced through many quantitative biophysical techniques. Here, we describe a set of undergraduate lab activities that highlight these biophysical techniques.