Seminar at the Institute of Physics

Ladies and Gentlemen !

I cordially invite you to a seminar at the Institute of Physics, which will be held on July 22, 2025, at 11:30 AM in Room 16 (near the Dean’s Office). The speaker will be:

Dr Janet Kumita

Department of Pharmacology, Cambridge University, UK

who will deliver a seminar entitled:

“Designing synthetic biomolecular condensates for specific client protein recruitment to facilitate protein degradation”

From 11:00 AM, we are planning a coffee with the speaker, to which you are cordially invited.

Best regards

Maciej Kozak

Abstract:

The ability of the cell to rapidly partition biomolecules into membraneless organelles, or biomolecular condensates, has been linked to a diverse range of cellular functions. To understand how the dynamics and physical attributes of these biomolecular condensates are linked with their biological roles, it is necessary to explore the design of synthetic systems that allow systematic tuning of the physico-chemical properties of the condensates. This includes rational designs to alter the condensate’s material properties and methods to introduce specific recruitment of different client proteins to the condensate dense phase. Here we describe the design and characterisation of a phase-separating, consensus-designed tetratricopeptide repeat (CTPR) protein system that allows us to make precise and predictable changes to the CTPR domain that tune the condensates in these ways. This system allows us to explore the condensates, at a mechanistic level, using in silico modelling, in vitro experiments and cell-based models. The ability to incorporate peptide motifs to specifically recruit different client proteins, including LC3, a key protein involved in the autophagy-lysosome degradation pathway may allow us to define a structure-function relationship between the physicochemical properties of these biomolecular condensates and their ability to target degradation via autophagy in the complex cellular environment.

Ng T.L.C., Hoare M.P., Maristany M.J., et al. & J.R. Kumita, “Tandem repeat proteins can introduce tuneable properties to engineered biomolecular condensates” Chem Sci (2025) 16: 10532-10548 DOI: 10.1039/d5sc00903k

photo downloaded from: https://www.phar.cam.ac.uk/research/kumita