Rohit V. Pappu
@rohitpappu68.bsky.social
Biophysics, soft matter physics, intrinsically disordered proteins, macromolecular interactions, & phase transitions are my interests. Discovery through rigor and collaboration is my passion. Kindness, generosity, humility, and justice are my hopes.
We show, in collaboration with Yifan Dai, that biomolecular condensates function as inherent catalysts. Interphase potentials give rise to electric fields at the interfaces of condensates that are tunable, strong enough to align substrates, & function as electro catalysts. doi.org/10.1016/j.mo...
Redirecting
doi.org
We used rigorous finite size scaling aided by Binder cumulants to map critical vs. near critical regions of a PLCD. Cluster-size distributions provide tell-tale markers of proximity to the critical point & scaling approaches fail in mapping theta states of IDPs. dx.doi.org/10.1088/1361...
Distinguishing near- versus off-critical phase behaviors of intrinsically disordered proteins
Distinguishing near- versus off-critical phase behaviors of intrinsically disordered proteins, Mitra, Gaurav, Ghosh, Souradeep, Ruff, Kiersten M, Zhang, Ruoyao, Chauhan, Gaurav, Pappu, Rohit V
dx.doi.org
Nuclear speckle associated RRM-containing proteins are block copolymers. They make size-limited, ordered microphases, tens of nm in size comprising tens of molecules. Speckles are likely clusters or emulsions of distinct microphases and not macrophases www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Nuclear speckle proteins form intrinsic and MALAT1-dependent microphases
Pre-mRNA processing components in nuclear speckles encompass one or more folded RNA recognition motifs (RRMs) and disordered regions with specific seq…
sciencedirect.com
The announcement that the 2025 Keio prize for Medical Science goes to @virusesimmunity.bsky.social and @brangwynnelab.bsky.social Brangwynne. www.ms-fund.keio.ac.jp/en/prize/ Congratulations to the masters for this well deserved honor. It is gratifying when true quality is recognized.
ms-fund.keio.ac.jp
Now in print: our study using single #fluorogenic molecules to probe the network architecture within #biomolecular #condensates with @rohitpappu68.bsky.social @washuengineers.bsky.social . Teaser video below. Read the full article at doi.org/10.1038/s415... #singlemolecule
Are stress granules crucibles or protective against amyloid fibril formation? Read about our work at Mol Cell: "Tunable metastability of condensates reconciles their dual roles in amyloid fibril formation". Wonderful collaboration with @rohitpappu68.bsky.social and other colleagues (see next post)!
ScienceDirect.com | Science, health and medical journals, full text articles and books.
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Rohit V. Pappu@rohitpappu68.bsky.social · last yr.With @tanjamittag.bsky.social we asked if A1-LCD condensates are protective or crucibles for amyloid fibril formation. Their interfaces enable fibril nucleation but their interiors suppress fibril formation. Insights were transferrable to stress granules in cells. doi.org/10.1016/j.mo...
Biomolecular condensates are shape shifting bits of DNA, RNA and proteins that “condense” molecules to key locations inside our cells. I call em "power blobs" cuz I'm fun like that. 🧪 🩺 Research from @rohitpappu68.bsky.social with @stjuderesearch.bsky.social source.washu.edu/2025/05/rese...
Research untangles role of stress granules in neurodegenerative disease
Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have found that biomolecular condensates play a role in suppressing the effects of ALS-causing mutations.
source.washu.edu
With @tanjamittag.bsky.social we asked if A1-LCD condensates are protective or crucibles for amyloid fibril formation. Their interfaces enable fibril nucleation but their interiors suppress fibril formation. Insights were transferrable to stress granules in cells. doi.org/10.1016/j.mo...
Redirecting
doi.org
engineering.washu.edu/news/2025/My.... @luciastrader.bsky.social
Myosin makes the moves to keep cell processes humming along
Washington University in St. Louis and Duke University researchers show how directed motions combined with protein interactions influence phase separation and the maintenance of biomolecular...
engineering.washu.edu
This collaboration with @luciastrader.bsky.social emerged as the result of a serendipitous interaction in Zurich in 2022. Lucia presented data for movement of ARF condensates during her talk & I was convinced this was Motility Influenced Phase Separation (MIPS). And so, the collaboration began!
Lucia Strader@luciastrader.bsky.social · last yr.Biomolecular condensates are critical for organizing cellular contents, but most studies focus on phase separation driven by salt, pH, or temperature. But what if intracellular movement also matters? Here, we explore motility-induced condensation in the cell. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
A wonderful collaboration between us, @rohitpappu68.bsky.social and the Knowles lab is now online, exploring anisotropies of molecules at the interfaces of RNA condensates! Congratulations Nadia, Mina, and Yuanxin! @washuengineers.bsky.social @washu.bsky.social
Rohit V. Pappu@rohitpappu68.bsky.social · last yr.We investigated the interfacial orientations of scaffold molecules vs. adsorbents in model condensates formed by pairs of RNA molecules with PEG. Experiments identify purine-rich RNAs as scaffolds & pyrimidine-rich RNAs as adsorbents that undergo wetting transitions. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
We investigated the interfacial orientations of scaffold molecules vs. adsorbents in model condensates formed by pairs of RNA molecules with PEG. Experiments identify purine-rich RNAs as scaffolds & pyrimidine-rich RNAs as adsorbents that undergo wetting transitions. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Differential interactions determine anisotropies at interfaces of RNA-based biomolecular condensates - Nature Communications
Experiments and computations show that the organization and dynamics of molecules within and at interfaces of biomolecular condensates are governed by differential interaction strengths leading to the...
nature.com
All atom simulations of peptides were used to investigate differences in pair interactions in dilute vs. dense phase mimics of condensates. Backbone-mediated interactions were found to weaken pairwise associations in dense phases giving rise to percolated networks. doi.org/10.1038/s420...
Backbone-mediated weakening of pairwise interactions enables percolation in peptide-based mimics of protein condensates - Communications Chemistry
Biomolecular condensates formed by intrinsically disordered protein condensates are known to be semidilute solutions, however, the molecular interactions in the dilute versus dense phases remain under...
doi.org
More exciting news from the Center for Biomolecular Condensates at WashU McKelvey School of Engineering - Discoveries through technological innovations and conceptual leaps engineering.washu.edu/news/2025/Un...
Uncovering the electrochemistry of condensates
Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis are discovering the electrochemical properties of biomolecular condensates which could help in development of cancer or ALS treatments.
engineering.washu.edu
With bsky.app/profile/lewl... we peered into condensates using single fluorogen imaging. Nanoscale hubs form, move, & disassemble on a range of timescales. A structural basis for condensate viscoelasticity. Need to rethink popular ideas. #Condensates≠simple-liquids www.nature.com/articles/s41...
bsky.app
check out the latest from Kiersten Ruff, Rohit Pappu and team! a molecular logic for protein disordered domains 🤩
Rohit V. Pappu@rohitpappu68.bsky.social · last yr.www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Molecular grammars of intrinsically disordered regions that span the human proteome
Intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) of proteins are defined by functionally relevant molecular grammars. This refers to IDR-specific non-random amino acid compositions and non-random patterning of...
biorxiv.org
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Nuclear speckle proteins form intrinsic and MALAT1-dependent microphases
Nuclear speckles are enriched in serine / arginine rich splicing factors (SRSFs), such as SRSF1. Splicing factors and proteins such as TDP43 concentrate into distinct speckle territories to enable pre...
biorxiv.org
🚀 First Bluesky Post! 🎉 VMD 2.0 Alpha is here! Released today at BPS 2025, this is the biggest update in 30 years—new UI, real-time ray tracing, fast surfaces, UHD & touchscreen support. Monthly updates coming in 2025! Try it now! #VMD #BPS2025 #MolecularVisualization www.ks.uiuc.edu/Research/vmd...
For our first scientific session spotlight we are "Peeking away from the lampost" with Dr. Rohit Pappu as he joins us to discuss intrinsically disordered proteins. @rohitpappu68.bsky.social @biophysicalsoc.bsky.social #bps2025 youtu.be/pAP2lBWBiGU
Intrinsically Disordered Proteins: A Peek Away from the Lampost
YouTube video by WebsEdge Science
youtu.be
Some cheerful news! Mina Farag, PhD alum of the lab, and MD/PhD student at WashU was selected as Spencer T. Olin Fellow for his doctoral thesis work. Olin Fellows are “recognized for past achievement and the promise of a distinguished career in the biomedical sciences”. Congratulations Mina!
@philipcball.bsky.social lhttps://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mysterious-blobs-found-in-cells-are-rewriting-how-life-works/
Quite simply, one of the best things I've done, been involved with, and participated in over my career. Thank you @cshlbanbury.bsky.social and @themarkfdn.bsky.social
Banbury Center@cshlbanbury.bsky.social · 2y agoBanbury kicked off 2025 with stimulating discussions on "Intrinsically Disordered Proteins in Cancer." Thank you to all participants, especially Drs. Cigall Kadoch and @rohitpappu68.bsky.social for organizing, and @themarkfdn.bsky.social for generous support. Read the agenda: bit.ly/DISORDER-25
Happy New Year to everyone. With kindness, generosity, courage, and determination we will succeed in our respective endeavors. To all those whose generosity I benefit from, thank you so much! I shall strive to be equally generous to each of you.
🚨Announcing NetSci: a super fast tool to compute correlated motion in biomolecules pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/... @pabloarantes.bsky.social & team also made it into a Colab notebook: colab.research.google.com/drive/1GGJKr... Give it a try & send feedback!
NetSci: A Library for High Performance Biomolecular Simulation Network Analysis Computation
We present the NetSci program–an open-source scientific software package designed for estimating mutual information (MI) between data sets using GPU acceleration and a k-nearest-neighbor algorithm. This approach significantly enhances calculation speed, achieving improvements of several orders of magnitude over traditional CPU-based methods, with data set size limits dictated only by available hardware. To validate NetSci, we accurately compute MI for an analytically verifiable two-dimensional Gaussian distribution and replicate the generalized correlation (GC) analysis previously conducted on the B1 domain of protein G. We also apply NetSci to molecular dynamics simulations of the Sarcoendoplasmic Reticulum Calcium-ATPase (SERCA) pump, exploring the allosteric mechanisms and pathways influenced by ATP and 2′-deoxy-ATP (dATP) binding. Our analysis reveals distinct allosteric effects induced by ATP compared to dATP, with predicted information pathways from the bound nucleotide to the calcium-binding domain differing based on the nucleotide involved. NetSci proves to be a valuable tool for estimating MI and GC in various data sets and is particularly effective for analyzing intraprotein communication and information transfer.
pubs.acs.org
New collaborative work in collaboration with the labs of Robert Best & Tanja Mittag driven by Ben Schuler. Identifying Sequence Effects on Chain Dimensions of Disordered Proteins by Integrating Experiments and Simulations. pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
Identifying Sequence Effects on Chain Dimensions of Disordered Proteins by Integrating Experiments and Simulations
It has become increasingly evident that the conformational distributions of intrinsically disordered proteins or regions are strongly dependent on their amino acid compositions and sequence. To facili...
pubs.acs.org
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