Condensates in gene control
Biomolecular condensates, gene control, signaling
Research aim
Failure to achieve appropriate gene control lies at the heart of most diseases, including cancer. By studying the impact of biomolecular condensates on gene control we aim to understand these processes with as ultimate goal therapeutic intervention.
About us
Condensate-based therapeutics
Despite intense research efforts over the last 5 decades, many cancers still have no effective drugs available in the clinic. The recent discovery of phase-separated biomolecular condensates provides a possible new modality to target these undruggable cancers. These new insights have led to an updated model of transcription that is incompletely understood and holds great potential for new therapeutical approaches. Understanding phase-separated condensates allows us to use the rules of physics to target biology. We continuously increase our understanding of the role of biomolecular condensates in oncogenic signaling and aim to exploit condensate mechanics to control oncogenic transcription.
Understanding the role of biomolecular condensates in oncogenic signaling
Leveraging our nanobody enabled condensate observation (NECO) platform that can uniquely detect active condensates in live cells, and ‘optical tweezers’ for single molecule resolution we investigate key oncogenic singaling pathways, such as the WNT-pathway, the Hippo pathway and Androgen Receptor signalling. We systematically investigate the differences in occurrence, dynamics, composition and material properties of these condensates in healthy and cancer tissues and link these differences to functional transcriptional phenotypes in patient derived material, including organoids.