Home Science Using laser ‘tweezers,’ scientists grab and study tiny protein droplets

Using laser ‘tweezers,’ scientists grab and study tiny protein droplets

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Physicists are using innovative tools to study the properties of a bizarre class of molecules that may play a role in disease: proteins that cluster together to form spherical droplets inside human cells. A new study sheds light on the conditions that drive such droplets to switch from a fluid, liquidy state to a harder, gel-like state.