About the project
In this project we will build a coarse-grained Molecular Dynamics (MD) model of molecular condensates in contact with deformable fluid membranes. We will investigate the mechanics of such a multicomponent system, and conditions under which condensates cause membrane reshaping, pore formation, and repair. At the same time, by using data from various membrane-condensate systems tackled in the consortium, this project is expected to pinpoint general properties and general physical rules of membrane-condensate systems. The project will involve secondments at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Postdam, Germany (Lipowsky group), the University of Copenhagen, Denmark (Pezeshkian group), and at MD.USE Innovations SL (Santiago de Compostela, Spain).
Selected References
- C. Bussi, A. Mangiarotti, C. Vanhille-Campos, B. Aylan, E. Pellegrino, N. Athanasiade, A. Fearns, A. Rodgers, A. Šarić, R. Dimova, M. G. Gutierrez, Stress granules plug and stabilize damaged endolysosomal membranes. Nature 623, 1062 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06726-w
- J. Krausser, T. P. J. Knowles, A. Šarić, Physical mechanisms of amyloid nucleation on fluid membranes, Proc Natl Acad Sci U.S.A., 117, 33090 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2007694117
- C. Vanhille-Campos and A. Šarić, Dynamics of vesicle shape changes under osmotic shocks, Soft Matter 17, 3798, (2021). https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlehtml/2021/sm/d0sm02012e
Doctoral Candidate: Zahra Akbari
Zahra completed her bachelor’s degree in physics at Sharif University of Technology in Iran. There, she gained experience in computational methods, such as Monte Carlo methods and Brownian dynamics for analyzing soft matter and biological systems through courses and voluntary projects with Reza Ejtehadi and Nader Reihani, working on nematic phase transitions in self-replicating polymer melt systems and measuring viscoelastic properties of the cell.
Hosted by:
Andela Saric
Institute of Science and Technology Austria
Computational Soft and Living Matter
andelasaric.com
