Biomolecular phase separation and phase transition is a rapidly developing frontier academic field. Research has revealed the existence of a class of micron-scale membraneless organelles within cells, distinct from classical organelles such as the endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi apparatus, which contain lipid bilayer membranes.

These membraneless organelles are constructed by multivalent biomacromolecules through weak interactions and regulated by reversible assembly to control the dynamicity of liquid-liquid phase separation, thereby precisely regulating the specificity of biochemical reactions within cells. The imbalance of liquid-liquid phase separation homeostasis in biological systems is closely associated with various diseases and Chinese researchers have made significant scientific achievements in this field.

This session on biomolecular phase separation and phase transition will gather scientists in the field to discuss and exchange ideas around membraneless organelles and their roles in chromatin and gene expression regulation, the development of diseases, substance transport, interactions with membranous organelles, drug screening, as well as in signal transduction, and new technologies in membraneless organelle research.

Chairs

Zhang Hong

Researcher, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Ruan Ke

Professor, University of Science and Technology of China

Invited speakers & reports

Sun Qiang

Researcher, Academy of Military Science

Report: Phase separation of hemoglobin as an uninterruptible power supply of oxygen for non-erythrocytes

Li Yiwei

Professor, Huazhong University of Science and Technology

Report: Squeezing cells for high-throughput discovery of phase separating proteins

Lin Shixian

Professor, Zhejiang University

Report: High-abundance glycosylation modification regulates protein phase separation and its biological functions

Yu Miao

Professor, Wuhan University 

Report: Visualizing the conformation and dynamics of FG-nucleoporins in situ

Lu Huasong

Researcher, Zhejiang University

Report: Nuclear condensate and its role in transcription control

Lin Jie

Researcher, Peking University

Report: Heterogeneous elasticity controls bursting kinetics of transcriptional condensates

Zhou Xiaoming

Westlake University

Report: How intrinsically disordered low-complexity domains regulate intermediate filament cytoskeleton and beyond 

Chu Xiakun

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou)

Report: Balancing stability, dynamics and kinetics in phase separation of highly flexible biopolymers 

Liu Feng

Sun Yat-sen University

Report: Proximal proteomics reveals a landscape of human nuclear condensates 

Wang Xinping

Thermo Fisher Scientific

Report: In-situ structure analysis of cryo-ET facilitates the study of phase separation