Analysis of Phase Separation in Living Cells: An Experimental Overview

This talk will cover various methods used to study protein phase separation in living cells. First, experiments commonly used to characterize biomolecular condensates, which can be applied both in vitro and within cells, will be discussed. Then we will focus on light- and chemically-inducible systems, such as the OptoDroplet, Corelet, iPOLYMER, PixELL, and CasDrop system. Examples where these techniques have been used to assess condensate function will be presented. The last part will highlight recent examples where condensate formation has been linked to functional roles at the synapse such as the attraction of condensate partners and vesicle clustering.