Biophysical Society Bulletin | June 2020

Publications

Know the Editor Yamini Dalal

ticipated when using standard biochemistry to probe nucleo- some structure or function. What have you read lately that you found really interesting or stimulating? I’m re-reading one of my favorite books of all time, Irving Stone’s The Agony and the Ecstasy which is a fictional biogra- phy of the Florentine sculptor, Michelangelo. It’s a poignant story about his creative struggles in the face of extraordinary challenges at every level, many of which would have defeat- ed any normal person. He struggled with personal, physi- cal, mental, professional, and historical crises, and yet, his contributions to humanity are profound. It’s incredible how he could make cold white marble resonate with the most primal of human emotions. I cried when I first saw the Pieta in Rome 15 years ago. I found his story very uplifting, and it particular- ly resonates at this time of the COVID-19 crisis. Who would you like to sit next to at a dinner party? All historical figures—all long dead! Hatsheput (the first female Pharaoh of Egypt), Cleopatra (the last female Pharaoh of Egypt), Julius Caesar, the Emperor Akbar, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. Michelangelo and da Vinci were rivals for Medici patronage and they were both polymaths.

National Cancer Institute, NIH Editor, Genome Biophysics Biophysical Journal

Yamini Dalal

What are you currently working on that excites you? We are investigating a causal link between nano-elasticity nucleosomes, the smallest epigenetic unit of the genome, and the functional outcomes for that locus in vivo, such as transcription. And we’re doing it in cancer cells, where certain loci are more fragile and prone to breaks. This is the most challenging and fun project I’ve worked on in my entire career! What has been your biggest “aha” moment in science? Realizing that the energy constrained inside a nucleosome, dictated by its own unique molecular signature, can dictate how the entire chromatin fiber behaves, altering its function. I think that’s totally wild and not something I would have an-

In the last five years there has been an explosion of interest in phase separation as an organizing principle in signal transduction, nuclear organization, and chromatin structure. Phase separation and generalizations thereof are governed by multivalence of interaction motifs and/or domains within protein and nucleic acids, especially RNA molecules. We are inviting contributions that treat any aspect of the relevance of phase separation to biology. These could include new experimental results, critical reviews of the state of the field, guides to the design and interpretation of experiments, explorations of the basic principles underlying phase separation, qualitative and quantitative explorations of the consequences of phase separation for biology, or historical perspectives on the development of current models. Special Issue: Phase Separation in Nucleic Acid Biochemistry and Signal Transduction Biophysical Journal Editors: Jason Kahn, University of Maryland, College Park Rohit Pappu, Washington University in St. Louis Edward Lemke, Johannes Gutenberg University and Institute of Molecular Biology Mainz Call for Papers

Deadline for submission: August 31, 2020

To submit, visit biophysj.msubmit.net

June 2020

9

T H E N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E B I O P H Y S I C A L S O C I E T Y