Our new paper is out! We asked how small molecules influence biomolecular condensation. Our findings help identify molecules and rxns that regulate physiology and inform therapeutic development. Susceptibility and regulation of biomolecular condensates by solutes | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Laboratory of Soft and Living Materials @SoftLiv_Cornell@softliv.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Happy to share our first preprints from work originating at Cornell! Takumi's paper describes how small molecules shift phase equilibria of condensates by focusing on the dilute-phase response. It shows how metabolites may tune stability and material properties. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

We are delighted to welcome Dr. Marco De Corato @madecorato.bsky.social, who joins us as a Fulbright Visiting Researcher for Summer 2026! We look forward to many discussions and collaborations. Welcome, Marco!

New preprint! 🧪 What happens when phase separation couples to a nematic transition? 🫧 By combining experiment and theory 🔬, we find some pretty wild ternary phase diagrams! 🌈 Congrats on this milestone, Sully! Check it out here. arxiv.org/abs/2605.26338

Our second Cornell-era preprint is also out! Kaarthik's paper discusses the gap between cellular and in vitro condensates. In cells, condensates are low-contrast (small partition coefficients), enabling a wide range of responses. Congrats, Kaarthik and the team! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Happy to share our first preprints from work originating at Cornell! Takumi's paper describes how small molecules shift phase equilibria of condensates by focusing on the dilute-phase response. It shows how metabolites may tune stability and material properties. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Alexandre’s manuscript, “Polymerization from Lipid Membranes,” is now published in Biomacromolecules! Congratulations to Alexandre and the team! The paper describes how to grow polymer brushes directly from one side of lipid bilayers by incorporating an ATRP initiator pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....

Happy to announce that Dr. Nan Xue, our lab alumnus, has just launched a new lab at NTU, Singapore! Congrats on this new chapter of your career, Nan! His lab will explore the exciting intersection of soft matter and living systems, and is actively recruiting two PhD students! xlift.org/openings/

Interested in research on soft and biological materials in Germany? Our lab alumnus Lotta is starting her own group at RWTH Aachen 🎉Huge congrats, Lotta! Her lab will focus on soft and biological materials towards biomedical and sustainable applications, and she’s looking for motivated PhD students!

Doktorand*in (w/m/d) im Fachbereich Biophysik, Biochemie und/oder Biomaterialien: Struktur komplexer phasenseparierender Flüssigkeiten | Jobs bei DWI Leibniz-Institut für Interaktive Materialien e.V. ...

🎉Very happy to share that I will start my own research group as an independent group leader at the DWI – Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials at RWTH Aachen University in February 2026! 🚀We w...

linkedin.com

Two weeks ago the Softliv crew was at the 2025 Soft Condensed Matter GRC! 🍃 We shared our ongoing research, learned a ton from the community, and enjoyed many energizing discussions. A highlight was reconnecting with our amazing lab alumni — nothing beats mixing science with good company! 💡👥

🚨 New preprint! Could living cells use phase transitions to process information? We explore computational aspects of biomolecular condensation — from classification to control — while posing questions on expressivity (problems they solve) and learning (how they adapt). 📄 arxiv.org/abs/2507.23384

New ChemRxiv preprint! Check out this preprint to learn how to grow thick, dense polymer brushes directly from lipid membranes. The study offers new tools for glycocalyx mimicking and biomedical applications. Congrats to Alex and the rest of co-authors! chemrxiv.org/engage/chemr...

New preprint on the thermodynamics of phase separation! arxiv.org/pdf/2506.08958 Congratulations to @carlaferi.bsky.social and all co-authors!

Carla Fernandez-Rico@carlaferi.bsky.social · last yr.

New preprint on the thermodynamics of phase separation arxiv.org/pdf/2506.08958 🤩. In this work we aimed at developing a simple model based on Flory-Huggings than can help us to describe phase separation phenomena when polymer network elasticity plays a role! @softliv.bsky.social

Harsha and Kaarthik led a vibrant workshop for 7th–10th graders as part of Expanding Your Horizons, exploring the science of color through pigments, scattering, and structures! 🌈🔬 Read more here: sites.coecis.cornell.edu/softliv/news... #STEM #ScienceEducation #ExpandingYourHorizons

Attending #MRS2025? Senthil presents Polymerization-Induced Elastic Microphase Separation—enabling tunable bicontinuous structures via controlled phase separation. 🔬Phase Separation via Controlled Chain-Growth to Tailor Bicontinuous Monoliths 📅Apr 7, 2025 | 🕑 2:00–2:15 PM 📍Summit, Level 3, Room 324

Attending #APSSummit25? Check out our lab's latest work on biomolecular condensates, presented by Kaarthik and Eric—covering critical phenomena, swimming droplets, and more! Come say hi 👋 📍Details below👇 #APSMarch #biophysics #condensates #activeDroplets @apsphysics.bsky.social

🔬 BPS 2025 is Around the Corner! Teagan and Lotta will each be presenting their work on client partitioning in biomolecular condensates and their supramolecular structures! Join us for exciting discussions on the physical properties and organization of biomolecular condensates.

New publication announcement! 📢 🔍 Not all biomolecular condensates are simple droplets. 🔍 Bik1, a key microtubule plus-end tracking protein in budding yeast, forms condensates that aren’t uniform liquids but fluid fractal networks. 🔗 nature.com/articles/s41... Congrats to all co-authors!🎉

Phase separation of a microtubule plus-end tracking protein into a fluid fractal network - Nature Communications

Here, the authors characterize the structural organization and condensate behavior of the microtubule plus-end tracking protein Bik1, employing SAXS, computational modeling, microscopy, and crosslinki...

nature.com

It is lovely to kick off our journey on Bluesky. We are looking forward to sharing our science on this platform and are excited to engage with scientists around the world! 🌎

Hello Bluesky 🌎