Anna Bratek-Skicki

Compartmentalization is a basic device of eukaryotic cells to achieve spatiotemporal separation and organization of their biochemical reactions. Classical compartments (organelles), such as the nucleus or the mitochondrion, are surrounded by a lipid bilayer that physically separates them from the bulk of the cytoplasm. Cells, however, also contain many other, more dynamic compartments that are not surrounded by membranes and are thus termed membraneless organelles (MLOs) or biomolecular condensates (BO). BOs are thought to arise by liquid–liquid phase separation (LLPS) or biomolecular condensation of their protein and RNA components.

The current research of the team is focused on the formation and characterization of biological condensation and its detection using microfluidic approaches with optical detection. The main goal is to develop novel chip(s) for i) visualizing and manipulating sub-µm particles, ii) creating special mixing regimes for studying equilibrium transient phenomena, and iii) observing the first stage(s) of condensates formation. These tools will help to gain fundamental insight into the formation and evolution of liquid condensates and aggregates of proteins linked to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) at the single-particle level.

• Cloning / Protein expression / Protein purification
• Absorbance measurements
• Microscopy / FRAP
• Bio-layer Interferometry
• Microscale thermophoresis
• Isothermal titration calorimetry
• Dynamic light scattering  
• Small angle X-ray scattering
• Circular dichroism
• Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy
• X-ray crystallography
• Raman spectroscopy
• A system with microfluidic chip

Selected papers from the past years

Optofluidic chip for turbidity and fluorescence measurement of aggregating proteins
Y. P. Bahramvandi, P. Gelin, M. Van Nerom, A. Bratek-Skicki, P. Tompa, D. Meas, W. de Malsche, H. Ottevaere
Journal of Optical Microsystems, 2022 (in preparation)

Biological colloids: unique properties of membranelles organelles in the cell
A.Bratek-Skicki, M. Van Nerom, D. Maes, P. Tompa
Adv. Coll. Int. Sci., 2022 (in review)

The Effect of Controlled Mixing on ROY Polymorphism
M. Van Nerom, P. Gelin, M. Hashemiesfahan, W. De Malsche, J. F. Lutsko, D. Maes, Q. Galand
Crystals 2022, 12, 577.

Surface tension effects allow for sharply regulated nucleation-and-growth of biological condensates
Z. Sárkánya, F. Rochac, A. Bratek-Skicki, P. Tompa, S. Macedo-Ribeiro, P. M. Martins
Communications Physics, 2022, (in review).

A generic approach to study the kinetics of liquid–liquid phase separation under near-native conditions
Van Lindt, J., Bratek-Skicki, A., Nguyen, P.N., L.F. Durán Armenta, Maes, D., Tompa, P.
Communications Biology, 2021, 4(1), 77

In silico prediction of in vitro protein liquid–liquid phase separation experiments outcomes with multi-head neural attention
D. Raimondi, G. Orlando, E. Michiels, D. Pakravan, A. Bratek-Skicki, Ludo Van Den Bosch, Y. Moreau, F. Rousseau, J. Schymkowitz
Bioinformatics, 2021, 37 (20), 3473–3479.

Liquid–liquid phase separation enhances tdp-43 lcd aggregation, but delays seeded aggregation
Pakravan, D., Michiels, E., Bratek-Skicki, A., ...Tompa, P., Van Den Bosch, L.
Biomolecules, 2021, 11(4), 548

Towards a new class of stimuli-responsive polymer-based materials – Recent advances and challenges
Bratek-Skicki, A.
Applied Surface Science Advances, 2021, 4, 100068

Nanoparticle and bioparticle deposition kinetics: Quartz microbalance measurements
Bratek-Skicki, A., Sadowska, M., Maciejewska-Prończuk, J., Adamczyk, Z.
Nanomaterials, 2021, 11(1), pp. 1–42, 145

A guide to regulation of the formation of biomolecular condensates
Bratek-Skicki, A., Pancsa, R., Meszaros, B., Van Lindt, J., Tompa, P.
FEBS Journal, 2020, 287(10), pp. 1924–1935

Design of ultra-thin PEO/PDMAEMA polymer coatings for tunable protein adsorption
Bratek-Skicki, A.
Polymers, 2020, 12(3), 660

Focusing of microcrystals and liquid condensates in acoustofluidics
Gelin, P., Van Lindt, J., Bratek-Skicki, A., ...De Malsche, W., Maes, D.
Crystals, 2019, 9(3), 120

Mixed Polymer Brushes for the Selective Capture and Release of Proteins
Bratek-Skicki, A., Cristaudo, V., Savocco, J., ...Delcorte, A., Dupont-Gillain, C.
Biomacromolecules, 2019, 20(2), pp. 778–789

Integrating proteins in layer-by-layer assemblies independently of their electrical charge
Vander Straeten, A., Bratek-Skicki, A., Jonas, A.M., Fustin, C.-A., Dupont-Gillain, C.
ACS Nano, 2018, 12(8), pp. 8372–8381.

A.Bratek-Skicki, P. Tompa, J. Ahmed, <Confidential>
filed as EP<confidential> on 3/3/2022.