Subcellular compartmentalization of macromolecules increases flux and prevents inhibitory
interactions to control biochemical reactions. Inspired by this functionality, we sought to build …

Cells contain membraneless compartments that assemble due to liquid–liquid phase
separation, including biomolecular condensates with complex morphologies. For instance …

Compartments within living cells create specialized microenvironments, allowing multiple
reactions to be carried out simultaneously and efficiently. While some organelles are bound …

Tools to image membrane tension in response to mechanical stimuli are badly needed in
mechanobiology. We have recently introduced mechanosensitive flipper probes to report …

Protein-dominant cellular processes cannot be fully decoded without precise manipulation
of their activity and localization in living cells. Advances in optogenetics have allowed …

Highlights•Diverse protein engineering strategies for optically induced membrane
signaling.•Design strategies include allosteric switching and subcellular localization …

Many proteins harboring low complexity or intrinsically disordered sequences (IDRs) are
capable of undergoing liquid–liquid phase separation to form mesoscale condensates that …

Background Optogenetic modalities as well as optochemical and photopharmacological
strategies, collectively termed optical methods, have revolutionized the control of cellular …

Release of cargo molecules from cell-like nanocarriers can be achieved by chemical
perturbations, including changes to pH and redox state and via optical modulation of …

Many dynamic biological processes are regulated by protein–protein interactions and
protein localization. Experimental techniques to probe such processes with temporal and …