Developing New Technologies to Study Condensates

The characteristic feature of cellular condensates is their dynamics and in terms of SGs and high heterogeneity. There are few reports where scientists have identified SGs components, but all methods used so far have the possibility of losing transient interactions between different SGs components. In order to capture all interactions between mRNA, metabolites and protein, we need to improve previously described tools, and design the new ones.

Another aspect that needs attention and new tools for research is translation upon stress conditions. It has been shown that for example, heat stress but not only, causes general inhibition of translation machinery and increases mRNA degradation. Inhibition of translation is believed to be a trigger for SGs formation. So far, there is no comprehensive study, showing SGs regulation by inhibition of translation but also contribution of SGs formation into efficiency of translation especially in recovery phase. In our group we are combining different approaches to address this gap in SGs field.