Build-a-Cell seminar Cees Dekker: EVOLF bottom up approach to building synthetic cell & our research

Build-a-Cell seminar presented by Cees Dekker from Delft University of Technology EVOLF: a bottom up approach to building a synthetic cell, and our recent research therein This is recording of live…

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Soft Hardware, Flowing Software: Reconfigurable Microfluidics for Adaptable Chemical Computation

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Synthetic aptamer mechanoreceptors enable cell-specific force sensing and temporal control via DNA circuits - Nature Communications

Engineering synthetic mechanosensing systems with both cell-specificity and programmability remains challenging, especially for classical mechanoreceptors. Here, the authors develop an all-DNA mechano...

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Recent discoveries on the acquisition of the highest levels of human performance

Scientists have long debated the origins of exceptional human achievements. This literature review summarizes recent evidence from multiple domains on the acquisition of world-class performance. We re...

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ATP‐Powered Signaling Between Artificial and Living Cells

We introduce an ATP-powered artificial cell platform capable of selectively and transiently releasing DNA signals to facilitate communication between artificial and living cells. By engineering these...

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Growing functional artificial cytoskeletons in the viscoelastic confinement of DNA synthetic cells - Nature Chemical Engineering

Engineering structurally and functionally complex synthetic cells remains a key challenge. Here DNA condensate synthetic cells combine phase separation and DNA nanostructures to reveal how switchable ...

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Computational investigation of the sequence context of arginine/glycine-rich motifs in the human proteome - BMC Genomics

Arginine-glycine (RG)-rich motifs are among the most prevalent RNA-binding elements within intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) of proteins and play crucial roles in RNA metabolism, gene regulation, and the formation of membraneless organelles via liquid phase separation (LLPS). Despite their biological relevance and implication in neurological disorders and cancer, the sequence features and context dependencies that define functional RG motifs remain poorly characterized owing to their disordered nature and sequence variability. In this study, we present a computational framework to dissect the sequence and structural context of RG motifs across the human proteome. By contrasting a functionally defined positive dataset—enriched for RNA-binding and phase-separating proteins—with a negative dataset of RG motif proteins lacking these annotations, we identified distinct compositional and contextual signatures. RG motifs in the functionally defined positive dataset show increased enrichment of phenylalanine, tyrosine, aspartic acid, and asparagine, both within and around the motif, as well as nonrandom spatial relationships with structured RNA-binding domains. Notably, phenylalanine and tyrosine exhibit divergent positional and functional profiles, suggesting distinct mechanistic roles. Our analysis highlights the potential of sequence-based approaches to uncover functional determinants in disordered protein regions and further advances our understanding of the properties of RG motifs, offering a transferable framework for the study of other low-complexity motifs.

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Global perspectives on the critical role of diversity, equity, and inclusion in science

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are fundamental to advancing scientific innovation and addressing complex societal challenges. This Voices piece gathers insights from eight researchers around t...

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Soft Robotic Engines with Non‐Reciprocal Motion by Physical Intelligence

Movement is vital, and it requires breaking symmetry. This study introduces a hydrogel engine that achieves non-reciprocal motion through kinetic asymmetry in repeated actuation cycles. This approach....

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Constructing synthetic nuclear architectures via transcriptional condensates in a DNA protonucleus - Nature Communications

Nuclear biomolecular condensates are functional sub-compartments within the cell nucleus. Here, the authors develop a synthetic DNA protonucleus that enables RNA transcription and condensation into di...

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DNA Flipping as Facile Mechanism for Transmembrane Signaling in Synthetic Cells

Transmembrane signaling is essential for cellular communication, yet reconstituting such mechanisms in synthetic systems remains challenging. Here, we report a simple and robust DNA-based mechanism fo...

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