Guest Speaker – Polymer/Materials (CHEM 721) – February 2, 2023

Bio
Allie Obermeyer is an Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at Columbia University. The Obermeyer Group harnesses the biological and polymeric properties of proteins to create new materials. These studies blend approaches from chemical and synthetic biology, protein engineering, and polymer physics. Allie obtained her undergraduate degree in Chemistry from Rice University and performed undergraduate research in the laboratory of Seiichi P.T. Matsuda. She then joined the Department of Chemistry at UC Berkeley and earned a PhD degree under the guidance of Matthew Francis as a part of the Chemical Biology Graduate Program. She subsequently conducted postdoctoral training in the Chemical Engineering department at MIT as an Arnold Beckman postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Bradley Olsen. In 2017, she started her independent career at Columbia University. She has been the recipient of an NSF CAREER and NIH MIRA award.

Abstract
Protein de-mixing has been implicated in the organization of cellular components. These phase separated membraneless organelles create distinct environments that are essential to cellular processes ranging from signaling to gene expression and stress response. The formation of several membraneless organelles appears to be driven by electrostatic interactions between proteins and nucleic acids. Here we seek to develop sequence-function property relationships in order to predict the formation and properties of artificial membraneless organelles in bacteria. To do so, we engineer model proteins with varying potential for electrostatic interactions with endogenous biomolecules. We have probed the role of protein charge, charge distribution, charged functional groups, and sequence in the formation of these compartments. Here we will share our most recent understanding of the role of sequence in the creation of phase separated organelles in living cells.