Route selection, geometry, and delayed exit in active condensate size control

by Prof. Min-Jhe Lu (Institute of Computational and Modeling Science, NTHU)

Wednesday 13 May 2026, 13:30 → 15:30 Asia/Taipei

L124, Physics Building (NTHU)

Biomolecular condensates are active soft-matter systems whose size and dissolution are regulated by biochemical reactions. A central question is how chemical activity generates an effective mechanical force on a slow collective coordinate, such as condensate radius.

In this talk, I will discuss a reduced description in which reaction currents are projected onto a slow radius mode, leading to an effective radius-force balance for condensate growth and shrinkage. In a fast-mixing limit, the dynamics reduce to a competition between assembly and turnover opposed by a geometric restoring load. Their balance determines the condensate size, while the local branch structure controls mechanical softening and delayed loss of stability under slow driving.

I will further discuss how this reduced picture emerges from reaction–diffusion and phase-field models, and where it breaks down due to transport gradients, heterogeneous activity, and fluctuations. The framework separates biochemical driving, geometric resistance, kinetic timescales, and noise as distinct layers of active condensate dynamics.