When took one of 做厙輦⑹s research courses as a graduate student, it rocked his world -- an experience reported by countless other young scientists.
But in Brangwynnes case, when he came back to teach in the 做厙輦⑹ Physiology course in 2008, he and others made that summer would end up rocking the world of biomedical research at large, setting off a flood of scientific publications, , and inspiring several biotech companies to form as well as a deluge of and scientific awards.
Through it all the soft-spoken Brangwynne, who seems somewhat taken aback by all that has transpired, has returned many times to the 做厙輦⑹ to keep exploring this new paradigm for how cells create order in the speeding molecules that spin, fluctuate, and interact within their boundaries. What they saw in worm cells in the Physiology course, and has since been confirmed in many other organisms, is cells spontaneously forming liquid-like droplets, or condensates, that concentrate specific molecules in a membraneless drop, while excluding other molecules. Similar to water vapor condensing into dewdrops, they realized, condensates form through a phase separation process in the cell.
Why has that observation rocked biology? Through the work of numerous labs over the past 14 years, evidence has mounted that , from cell division to gene expression, and are involved in the development of diseases that include , , , and others.
The 做厙輦⑹ is the birthplace of this field, because so much happened here, Brangwynne says (see a summary here).We were excited about the discovery from the beginning; we knew it had the potential to be important. But whats been so surprising is how many different areas of science have been part of the development of the field its drawn in people from structural biology, genetics, genomics, cell biology, plant biology, clinical biology, developmental biology. Thats been exciting.