Protein phase separation has been linked to the organization of cellular components via the formation of membraneless organelles, which are compartments in a cell that are not enclosed by a lipid membrane. These phase-separated membraneless organelles create distinct environments that are essential to cellular processes that range from cell signaling to stress response. While several key proteins that form these organelles have been identified, researchers are still unable to design membraneless organelles from the ground up.

At the PSME Symposium, Obermeyer will share her group’s efforts to design synthetic membraneless organelles. Her approach is inspired by natural biological systems and builds on the physics of polymer phase separation controlled by electrostatic interactions. By simply tuning the charge on proteins, Obermeyer’s team has engineered phase separation of these proteins with nucleic acids in cells. Using a library of engineered proteins, her team has determined predictive design rules for protein phase separation in vivo. Their results have enabled them to apply these design rules to promote membraneless organelle formation for a range of proteins of interest. They are now using these capabilities to improve protein purification and the biosynthesis of chemicals.