Dresden 2026 – scientific programme

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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik

DY 44: Poster: Active Matter, Soft Matter, and Fluids

DY 44.19: Poster

Wednesday, March 11, 2026, 15:00–18:00, P5

Thermoresponsive liquid-liquid phase behaviour of biomolecular condensates in programmable thermal landscapes — •Ilona Kundi¹, Falko Schmidt¹, Rasmus Krogh Norrild², Alexander Kai Büll², and Frank Cichos¹ — ¹Peter Debye Institute for Soft Matter Physics, Leipzig University, 04103 Leipzig, Germany — ²Department of Biotechnology and Biomedicine, DTU, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark

Liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) of biomolecules drives the formation of membraneless organelles in cells. The LLPS behavior of the intrinsically disordered N-terminal region of the DEAD-box helicase DDX4 (DDX4N) is examined under precisely controlled and reconfigurable local temperature fields.

Locally tunable thermal landscapes are generated by scanning a focused laser beam over an absorbing metal thin film, creating microscale temperature profiles around DDX4N condensates. Here, the spatiotemporal evolution of condensate nucleation, growth, coarsening, and dissolution is tracked, linking local thermal forces to mesoscale LLPS dynamics.

By repeatedly cycling the temperature across the LLPS boundary, kinetic and thermodynamic parameters of the DDX4N phase transition are measured, revealing switching thresholds, hysteresis, and condensate material properties. Controlled microthermal perturbations thus provide a powerful means to probe and program protein LLPS, establishing a versatile platform for testing models of thermoresponsive intrinsically disordered proteins.

Keywords: Protein aggregates; Liquid Liquid Phase Transitions; Thermal Manipulation; Droplets