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Biomolecular condensates are a class of important biomaterials inside the cell that have unique sequence-defined mechanical properties. This project will examine mitochondrial nucleoid biomolecular condensates, which are formed from mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and packaging protein TFAM. Very little is known about how the mechanical properties of the mitochondrial nucleoids are encoded by the TFAM and mtDNA sequences, though this new knowledge could shed light on how mitochondria biophysically regulate cell metabolism, an important process for many diseases such as metabolic syndrome and cancers. In this project, the student will test how the TFAM tail amino acid sequence affects condensate biomechanics. Supervised by a postdoc in the lab, the student will 1) produce a set of TFAM variants with mutated tail domain sequences, 2) use these proteins and amplified mtDNA to make nucleoid condensates in the lab, and 3) measure and compare the condensates’ mechanical properties via quantitative microscopy techniques. The student will learn transferable skills including protein expression and purification, bioconjugation, microscopy, experimental design, data analysis, statistics, and scientific communication.
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