Drops of Life: Designing Membrane-bound and Membraneless Confinements

Summary

Even the simplest forms of life is remarkably complex. Cells, the basic units of life, organize their chaotic interior into distinct confinements. For instance, mitochondria, the power house of the cell consists of defined physical lipid membrane. Recently scientists have discovered a simpler form of compartment within cell which lack a physical membrane, known as membraneless organelles. These membraneless confinements are formed via the process of liquid-liquid phase separation, similar to how oil separates from water. In this thesis, we have created models of these cellular structures and explored ways to design and build synthetic mimics of cell.