Ani Chattaraj 🇮🇳 has joined our group as a postdoc! Welcome aboard 🎉

Our latest preprint at arxiv.org/abs/2604.26346 provides insights on chemically active mixtures that can produce mesmerizing patterns, such as this one:

Friday afternoon and #DPG2026 is over. Like always, a great meeting, well-organized and highly interesting👍This time with France as a guest country and many high-profile speakers from Dresden. Looking forward to #DPG2027 at Regensburg😀

The Division of Biological Physics @mpipks.bsky.social seeks a Research Group Leader in #biophysics, #softmatter physics, or related areas. (Further particulars in the ad.) Apply by the 3rd of April 2026 at pks.mpg.de/bprgl to join us in Dresden!

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...

Density. Crowding. Tomato. Tomato 🍅 @gabepopkin.bsky.social kin.bsky.social @quantamagazine.bsky.social Thx for covering the debate! We promise we're all friends 🥰 @liamholt.bsky.social & @gwgl.bsky.social Nothing would have been possible without @gucklab.bsky.social @vasilyzaburdaev.bsky.social

The Biophysical World Inside a Jam-Packed Cell | Quanta Magazine

Innovations in imaging and genetic engineering are coming together to probe the biophysics of cytoplasm inside living animals.

quantamagazine.org

Less than two weeks left to apply for a Theory Post-doc on Learning in Biological and Soft Matter with us @TU_Munich. Uncover how flows transport and process information to solve complex tasks. #PhDposition #academicjobs www.bpm.ph.tum.de/join-us/

The EMBO Young Investigator Network consists of young investigators, installation grantees and global investigators. 🧪 Find more information on the individual programmes here: https://www.embo.org/the-embo-communities/embo-young-investigator-network/ #LifeSciences #research #funding

Does targeting enzymes and substrates in a condensate lead to rate enhancement? No. Here, we investigate how the condensate environment can inhibit an enzyme reaction. Spoiler: Mass-transport limitations. We find a strong correlation between diffusion and reaction rates. doi.org/10.64898/202...

Really excited to share our new paper in @nature.com! We uncovered how a physical instability of the cytoplasm coupled with the cell cycle drives cytoplasmic partitioning in early embryos #zebrafish #drosophila. Read more in this🧵 www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🤩 @poldresden.bsky.social @mpi-cbg.de

You have a background in math/physics/computer science/ML and are looking for an interdisciplinary postdoc fellowship in life sciences with free choice of host groups? Then join us at the CSBD as an ELBE postdoc! The application deadline is the 13 of March

Our Mini Review went online last night in Current Opinion in Genetics & Development "Block copolymer concepts of how transcription organizes the stem cell genome" doi.org/10.1016/j.gd... Fig. 1: Stem cell–typical organization of the genome and transcription, and the block copolymer sorting concept.

Excited to talk to the Matter to Life community about droplets and life!

Max Planck School Matter to Life@mattertolife.bsky.social · 7mo ago

We’re excited to kick off 2026 with a rescheduled talk in the Matter to Life Lecture Series: “Droplets Come to Life” by MtL Fellow David Zwicker @zwickergroup.bsky.social from the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization 🙌 Register here: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

How does protein folding change inside biomolecular condensates? Our new preprint put forwards a framework for predicting this!! 🥳🥳🥳🥳 work by the talented @nathanieldhess.bsky.social

Nate@nathanieldhess.bsky.social · 7mo ago

I am very excited to share our pre-print that was just released on the bioRxiv entitled "Biomolecular Condensates Dictate the Folding Landscape of Proteins" doi.org/10.64898/202... Very grateful for @jerelleaj.bsky.social and the members of the Joseph Group for their support on this project! (1/4)

"While the concept of condensates is successfully rewriting cell biology textbooks, there is some danger of overhype and backlash." This workshop summary is great - particularly the idea to shift from "Is it a condensate?" to "what problem does that solve?" but "successfully" stood out for me here

Stephen Royle@steveroyle.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Physicists' perspective on the future direction of condensates in Cell Biology. arxiv.org/abs/2601.03677

Our "Roadmap for Condensates in Cell Biology" is now available on arXiv: arxiv.org/abs/2601.03677 🎉 This article summarizes the interdisciplinary weekly discussions we had at our condensate workshop at KITP in the summer of 2025. Feedback is very welcome!

Roadmap for Condensates in Cell Biology

Biomolecular condensates govern essential cellular processes yet elude description by traditional equilibrium models. This roadmap, distilled from structured discussions at a workshop and reflecting t...

arxiv.org

We're looking for a postdoc to strengthen our group! Please apply by January 15, 2026 if you're a fun and motivated person who likes theoretical modeling of biological processes by combining analytics and numerics. There is freedom in choosing projects! Details: www.ds.mpg.de/4110032/job_...

Since more than a decade, our group has been exploring chemically active droplets, which are exciting since their size can be controlled. Yet, we still do not fully understand this control even in the simplest models. Until a new preprint (arxiv.org/abs/2512.02542) spearheaded by postdoc Guido...

Size control guidelines for chemically active droplets

Biological cells and synthetic analogues use liquid-liquid phase separation to dynamically compartmentalize their environment for various applications. In many cases, multiple droplets need to coexist...

arxiv.org

📢 Paper alert 📢 Chirality is known to be important for the movement of microorganisms and active matter. In our new paper out today in @natphys.nature.com, we show that chirality is used by malaria parasites to control their motion patterns: doi.org/10.1038/s415... Here comes a 🧵 ... (1/9)

Two more pre-prints from the group 🎉 Riccardo explored how cells could control surface condensates by regulating bulk exchange (arxiv.org/abs/2511.03619). Filipe studied the impact of non-local interactions onto phase separation (arxiv.org/abs/2511.05214). Some more details in the thread:

Our review on the physics of phase separation in cells has been published by Rep. Prog. Phys. 🎉 doi.org/10.1088/1361... We hope that the text and citations are helpful for anyone interested in physical descriptions of condensates in cells!

Zwicker Group@zwickergroup.bsky.social · 2y ago

We wrote a review on the "Physics of droplet regulation in biological cells": arxiv.org/abs/2501.13639 Beside the basic #physics of phase separation, we discuss three aspects that separate cellular from traditional droplets:

Another pre-print from our group see's the light of day! 🎉 This time we how the coarsening of droplets is affected by advection and reactions: arxiv.org/abs/2510.00827 @stefankoestler2025.bsky.social describes our surprising findings in the thread below ⤵️

Advection selects pattern in multi-stable emulsions of active droplets

Controlling the size of droplets, for example in biological cells, is challenging because large droplets typically outcompete smaller droplets due to surface tension. This coarsening is generally acce...

arxiv.org

Stefan Köstler@stefankoestler2025.bsky.social · 10mo ago

New preprint 🥳 In our new paper, we show that “Advection selects pattern in multi-stable emulsions of active droplets” — which provides a path toward controlling regular arrangements of droplets. 🧵 📄 arxiv.org/abs/2510.00827

Our latest work from a stimulating collaboration with @jerelleaj.bsky.social and @nathanieldhess.bsky.social is out now!

Jerelle Joseph@jerelleaj.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Out now in #ACSMacroLett: we demonstrate how molecular charge asymmetry can control the size of condensates! Work done in collaboration with @zwickergroup.bsky.social!! Theory led by Chengjie Luo and simulations by @nathanieldhess.bsky.social!! pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

A great example of a totally unplanned discovery in our group, spearheaded by a Bachelor and a PhD student! Curiosity wins 🥳

Noah Ziethen@nziethen.bsky.social · 10mo ago

New preprint 🎉 What began as Frieder Johannsen’s bachelor thesis in the @zwickergroup.bsky.social (which I had the pleasure to supervise) evolved into our latest paper: “Chemically Active Liquid Bridges Generate Repulsive Forces” — unlike passive ones, which attract. 📄 arxiv.org/abs/2509.18777

New preprint 🎉 What began as Frieder Johannsen’s bachelor thesis in the @zwickergroup.bsky.social (which I had the pleasure to supervise) evolved into our latest paper: “Chemically Active Liquid Bridges Generate Repulsive Forces” — unlike passive ones, which attract. 📄 arxiv.org/abs/2509.18777

It was fun to do a little interview and think about the relevance of our work for a more experimental and engineering inclined community.

European Synthetic Cell Initiative@syncelleu.bsky.social · 11mo ago

David Zwicker, theoretical physicist and SynCellEU community member, explores how biological soft matter organises itself in space and time. In our new article, we discuss his work, his contribution to #syncell research, and his advice to early-career researchers. syntheticcell.eu/david-zwicke...

We have developed a new workflow to map whole human organs at single-cell resolution, while integrating spatial transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics. We applied this workflow to map precancerous lesions of the fallopian tubes. More here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

In other news, we welcome Mengmeng Wu 🇨🇳 and Lukas Kristensen 🇩🇰 to our group! 🥳 Mengmeng is a postdoc who will combine particle-based simulations with analytical theory to study chemically active droplets. Lukas visits us for three months and will work on anchored active droplets. Welcome aboard! 🎉

We were exceptionally effective at finishing manuscripts in the last weeks and couldn't keep up with describing pre-prints here. This thread summarizes the main results of our recent works:

This is a great opportunity to start an independent group in one of the best research environments you could think of!

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft@maxplanck.de · 11mo ago

Springboard for an international scientific career! 🧬🧪🔭⚛️🧠🌱 Call for #MaxPlanckResearchGroups launched; applications are possible until October 14, 2025 www.mpg.de/max-planck-r... #ScienceCareer