Macromolecular Condensates: From Globules to Toroids and Beyond

聚合物是长链分子，对所有生物都至关重要。例如蛋白质和DNA，它们携带着生命所需的所有信息。在细胞和实验室中，这些聚合物通常以紧凑的折叠状态存在。目前的聚合物科学擅长描述非常柔性的聚合物，但未能描述大多数具有难以弯曲的主链的生物聚合物。我们的目标是描述多种生物聚合物的折叠或球形状态，从而提高我们对聚合物在生物中的作用的理解。

Polymers are long-chain molecules which are vital for all living things. Examples include proteins and DNA which carries all of the information needed for life. In the cell and in the laboratory these polymers are often found in a compact folded state. Current polymer science is good at describing very flexible polymers, but fails to describe most biological polymers which have backbones that are difficult to bend. Our aim is to describe the folded or globular state for many kinds of biological polymers and thus improve our understanding of the role of polymers in living things.