Clifford Brangwynne 生物物理工程师

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Clifford Brangwynne
Biophysical Engineer | Class of 2018
Using the principles of soft matter physics and cell biology to illuminate novel mechanisms of cellular compartmentalization that drive biological development


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Title
Biophysical Engineer
Affiliation
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Princeton University
Location
Princeton, New Jersey
Age
40 at time of award
Area of Focus
Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology
Website
Princeton University: Clifford Brangwynne
Brangwynne Lab
Howard Hughes Medical Institute: Clifford Brangwynne
Published October 4, 2018
ABOUT CLIFFORD'S WORK
Clifford Brangwynne is a biophysical engineer enhancing our understanding of cellular compartmentalization and its critical role in biological development. It has long been asserted that processes that drive cellular development—such as protein synthesis, energy production, cell cycle control, and waste degradation—require compartmentalizing the components that perform them into membrane-bounded organelles. Brangwynne’s research focuses on the less well-understood membraneless organelles—loose assemblies of proteins and nucleic acids that are not enveloped by a lipid membrane.

Using the principles of soft matter physics and cell biology, he determined that the organization of membraneless organelles is achieved through phase transitions. These liquid-liquid partitioning events are akin to oil separating from water—differences in viscosity, surface tension, and other properties allow liquids to coexist in distinct phases without mixing. Brangwynne is developing methods to further explore the mechanisms and implications of liquid phase transitions associated with such bodies as P-granules, Cajal Bodies, and nucleoli. He used changes in cell volume and variances in nucleolar protein concentration that happen during organismal development to study the dynamics of liquid phase partitioning of nucleoli, which are important for regulating gene expression. More recently, he created an approach using light-sensitive proteins that enables precise spatiotemporal control over liquid phase separation of intracellular liquid droplets both in vitro and in living cells.

Brangwynne’s findings have opened a host of new research avenues, as membraneless biological phase separation is being found in an ever-increasing variety of cellular settings, and his investigations of the critical role compartmentalization plays in intracellular events has the potential to shed light on biochemical malfunctions that can lead to disease.

BIOGRAPHY
Clifford Brangwynne received a B.S. (2001) from Carnegie Mellon University and a Ph.D. (2007) from Harvard University. He was a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics and the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems from 2007 to 2010, prior to joining the faculty of Princeton University in 2011, where he is currently an associate professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, and an Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. His articles have appeared in such scientific journals as Cell, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Science, Nature Physics, and the Journal of Cell Biology, among others.



Clifford Brangwynne
生物物理工程师 | 2018级
利用软物质物理学和细胞生物学的原理，阐明驱动生物发展的细胞分室的新机制。


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标题
生物物理工程师
工作单位
普林斯顿大学化学和生物工程系
工作地点
普林斯顿，新泽西
年龄
获奖时40岁
重点领域
生物化学、生物物理学和结构生物学
网站
普林斯顿大学。克利福德-布兰格温尼
Brangwynne实验室
霍华德-休斯医学研究所。Clifford Brangwynne
发表于2018年10月4日
关于Clifford的工作
Clifford Brangwynne是一位生物物理工程师，他加强了我们对细胞分隔及其在生物发展中的关键作用的理解。长期以来，人们一直断言，推动细胞发育的过程--如蛋白质合成、能量生产、细胞周期控制和废物降解--需要将执行这些过程的组件分隔成有膜的细胞器。Brangwynne的研究重点是不太为人所知的无膜细胞器--没有被脂质膜包裹的蛋白质和核酸的松散组合体。

利用软物质物理学和细胞生物学的原理，他确定无膜细胞器的组织是通过相变实现的。这些液-液分离事件类似于油从水中分离--粘度、表面张力和其他特性的差异使液体在不同的相中共存而不混合。Brangwynne正在开发方法，以进一步探索与P-granules、Cajal Bodies和nucleoli等机构相关的液相转换的机制和影响。他利用生物体发育过程中发生的细胞体积的变化和核小体蛋白浓度的变异来研究核小体的液相分配的动态，这对调节基因表达很重要。最近，他创造了一种使用光敏蛋白的方法，能够在体外和活细胞中对细胞内液滴的液相分离进行精确的时空控制。

布朗温的发现开辟了一系列新的研究途径，因为在越来越多的细胞环境中发现了无膜生物相分离，而他对细胞内事件中的分隔所起的关键作用的调查，有可能揭示出可能导致疾病的生化故障。

个人简历
Clifford Brangwynne在卡耐基梅隆大学获得学士学位（2001年），在哈佛大学获得博士学位（2007年）。2007年至2010年，他在马克斯-普朗克分子细胞生物学和遗传学研究所和马克斯-普朗克复杂系统物理研究所从事博士后研究，2011年加入普林斯顿大学，目前是化学和生物工程系的副教授，也是霍华德-休斯医学研究所的研究员。他的文章发表在《细胞》、《美国国家科学院院刊》、《科学》、《自然物理学》和《细胞生物学杂志》等科学杂志上。