Berlin 2024 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 20: Poster IIIa

BP 20.18: Poster

Wednesday, March 20, 2024, 11:00–14:30, Poster B

Controlling Droplet Formation and Dissolution with Chemical Reactions — •Gerrit Wellecke, Jan Kirschbaum, and David Zwicker — Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Göttingen, Germany

Droplets formed by phase separation are vital for intracellular organization and function. Chemical reactions can generally control the formation and dissolution of such droplets. To understand how cells can influence droplets in space and time, we here consider a ternary system that displays bistabilities between homogeneous and phase-separated states. We use a thermodynamically consistent approach to describe the reactions, which allows us to quantify the energy dissipation during transitions in such a system. We identify optimal protocols for reaction-controlled droplet formation and dissolution in the bistable regime. Our model identifies plausible mechanisms for how cells control their droplets and suggests paths for controlling synthetic soft matter systems.

Keywords: phase separation; chemical reactions; droplets; biomolecular condensates