Cells undergo many complex processes to work properly and maintain life, including maintaining stable chemical conditions, such as pH and electrolyte balance.
Yifan Dai, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering at WashU McKelvey Engineering, will study this process, called buffering, with a five-year $2 million Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Specifically, Dai will focus on biomolecular condensates, which are molecular communities made up of DNA, RNA and proteins, and how they are involved with diseases. In previous research, Dai and his lab found that these protein clusters play a significant role in metabolism and cellular processes, showing their impact on maintaining chemical balance and regulating biology.
Read more on the McKelvey Engineering website.
