Shana Elbaum-Garfinkle

TL;DR: It is demonstrated that an N-terminal, arginine/glycine rich, intrinsically disordered protein (IDP) domain of LAF-1 is necessary and sufficient for both phase separation and RNA–protein interactions, and insight is provided into the mechanism by which IDP-driven molecular interactions give rise to liquid phase organelles with tunable properties.

TL;DR: These findings suggest that mRNAs can encode not only genetic information but also the biophysical properties of phase-separated compartments, and indicate mRNA can bring individuality to assemblies.

TL;DR: It is found that LAF-1 and other in vitro and intracellular droplets are characterized by an effective mesh size of ∼3-8 nm, which determines the size scale at which droplet properties impact molecular diffusion and permeability.

TL;DR: This review summarizes recent work linking liquid phase separation to neurodegeneration, highlighting a pathological role for altered phase behavior and material properties of proteins assembled via liquidphase separation.

TL;DR: It is demonstrated that droplets of poly-arginine coassembled with mono/polynucleotides have approximately 100 fold greater viscosity than comparable lysine droplets, both of which can be finer tuned by polymer length.