Job Boekhoven

I’m happy to share Hector Soria Carrera and Leonie Kauling’s recent work in @Chem_CP! A thread below. cell.com/chem/fulltext/…

Such fundamental studies help us elucidate the complexities of peptide assembly, which are central to neurodegenerative diseases.

Our droplets are a model for the biomolecular condensates in our cells. Does turning over such condensates prevent aging of peptides in our cells too? It is too early to tell. Besides, others have shown the opposite: droplets accelerate fibrillation. tinyurl.com/2myycjfd

We found that fuel-driven droplets can prevent such autocatalytic fibers forming-when the peptide is turned over into phase-separate into droplets, we did not observe any plaques. This suggests that transiently capturing the peptides inside droplets prevents fiber formation.

We found a peptide that forms amyloid fibers—the types associated with neurodegenerative diseases. Although the exact pathway is unknown, a complication is that these fibers grow autocatalytically—once a fiber is formed, it helps form new ones. tinyurl.com/54x79mxz

@zaidalpi @IBECBarcelona @ERC_Research @PCB_UB @_BIST Congratulations 🥂!

Thrilled to announce my #ERCCoG! 🎉 As PI at @IBECBarcelona, I’ll lead SPINECRAFT to build the first 4D human spinal cord model — pushing the boundaries of neurodegenerative disease research and regenerative therapies. 👀: f.mtr.cool/evplnehjmj @ERC_Research @PCB_UB @_BIST

@DorianaVinci Please share the results🥰

@davinci_thyself @Chem_CP Gotcha. Division is here: cell.com/chem/fulltext/…

@BoekhovenLab @Chem_CP Woah, first time reading a bio-chem paper this unique, but the evolutionary side still feels thin without real heritable variation, and it's hard to see inheritance without compartment division. The system also depends a lot on time fuel pulses, but the potential is huge.

Eternally grateful to the team, funding agencies (@ERC_Research, @mattertolife, @AvHStiftung), and the @TU_Muenchen for continuous support.

We also have to show that genes compete (through the synthetic cells). For that, we need multiple (hundreds?) replicators combined to form a real genotype. So, plenty of work to do.

Chemically Fueled, Active Droplets Prevent the Aging of Peptides into Amyloid-Like Fibers | Journal of the American Chemical Society @BoekhovenLab @TU_Muenchen pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/ja…

Freshly published: "Primitive genotype-phenotype coupling in fuel-dependent synthetic cells" Twitter feed to follow sciencedirect.com/science/articl…