Mina Farag
Program: Biomedical Engineering
Current advisor: Rohit V. Pappu, PhD
Undergraduate university: Johns Hopkins University
Research summary
As a member of the Pappu lab, Mina studies the roles of intrinsically disordered proteins in macromolecular phase separation using a variety of theoretical and computational methods. Currently, Mina is working to understand how proteins behave at the surface of biomolecular condensates, and how this behavior can be connected to physiological and pathological functions of condensates. Specifically, using LASSI, a Monte Carlo simulation engine developed by members of the Pappu lab, he can simulate full biomolecular condensates comprised of proteins. By analyzing these simulations using multiple novel techniques, he can draw inferences about the organization and interfacial features of real-world condensates.
Graduate publications
King MR, Ruff KM, Lin AZ, Pant A, Farag M, Lalmansingh JM, Wu T, Fossat MJ, Ouyang W, Lew MD, Lundberg E, Vahey MD, Pappu RV. 2024 Macromolecular condensation organizes nucleolar sub-phases to set up a pH gradient. Cell, 187(8):1889-1906.e24.
Farag M, Borcherds WM, Bremer A, Mittag T, Pappu RV. 2024 Phase separation of protein mixtures is driven by the interplay of homotypic and heterotypic interactions. Nat Commun, 14(1):5527.
King MR, Ruff KM, Lin AZ, Pant A, Farag M, Lalmansingh JM, Wu T, Fossat MJ, Ouyang W, Lew MD, Lundberg E, Vahey MD, Pappu RV. 2024 Macromolecular condensation organizes nucleolar sub-phases to set up a pH gradient. Cell, 187(8):1889-1906.e24.
Dai Y, Farag M, Lee D, Zeng X, Kim K, Son HI, Guo X, Su J, Peterson N, Mohammed J, Ney M, Shapiro DM, Pappu RV, Chilkoti A, You L. 2023 Programmable synthetic biomolecular condensates for cellular control. Nat Chem Biol, 19(4):518-528.
Farag M, Holehouse AS, Zeng X, Pappu RV. 2023 FIREBALL: A tool to fit protein phase diagrams based on mean-field theories for polymer solutions. Biophys J, 122(12):2396-2403.
Pappu RV, Cohen SR, Dar F, Farag M, Kar M. 2023 Phase Transitions of Associative Biomacromolecules. Chem Rev, 123(14):8945-87.
Bremer A, Farag M, Borcherds WM, Peran I, Martin EW, Pappu RV, Mittag T. 2022 Deciphering how naturally occurring sequence features impact the phase behaviours of disordered prion-like domains. Nat Chem, 14(2):196-207.
Bremer A, Posey AE, Borgia MB, Borcherds WM, Farag M, Pappu RV, Mittag T. 2022 Quantifying Coexistence Concentrations in Multi-Component Phase-Separating Systems Using Analytical HPLC. Biomolecules, 12(10):1480.
Farag M, Cohen SR, Borcherds WM, Bremer A, Mittag T, Pappu RV. 2022 Condensates formed by prion-like low-complexity domains have small-world network structures and interfaces defined by expanded conformations. Nat Commun, 13(1):7722.
Martin EW, Holehouse AS, Peran I, Farag M, Incicco JJ, Bremer A, Grace CR, Soranno A, Pappu RV, Mittag T. 2020 Valence and patterning of aromatic residues determine the phase behavior of prion-like domains. Science, 367(6478):694-699.