Coming up next
2026-10-15 - 13:30 @ EM1.17 (New Gorlaeus)
SLAM seminar: Pierre Illien (Sorbonne Université)
Microscopic and stochastic simulations of chemically active droplets
Biomolecular condensates are key to the spatial organization of living cells, emerging through nonequilibrium phase separation processes that give rise to so-called chemically active droplets. These droplets form and evolve through the interplay of molecular interactions and chemical reactions that switch components between attractive and repulsive states. In this talk, I will present two complementary studies that explore the microscopic origins and emergent behaviors of such active emulsions.
In the first part, I will introduce a particle-based Brownian dynamics model that explicitly represents the building blocks of active droplets. This approach provides a microscopic and stochastic description of their formation and dynamics, revealing how controlled deviations from equilibrium determine fluctuations, shape anisotropy, and droplet lifetimes.
In the second part, I will extend this framework to consider the role of macromolecular crowding, a defining feature of the cellular environment. By combining particle-based and field-based models, we uncover how crowding affects droplet morphology and phase behavior in surprising ways—reducing droplet size while expanding the overall dense-phase volume. These findings shed light on how nonequilibrium chemistry, molecular interactions, and crowding collectively shape the physical organization of living matter.