Prof. Aleksander Rebane, Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Physics, NYU Abu Dhabi, delivered an insightful talk titled “Scaling Law for PEG-induced Macromolecular Crowding” as part of the SCAN–BSBE Joint Lecture Series at IIT Bombay.
Prof. Rebane has completed his PhD in Physics at Yale University. During his doctoral work, Prof. Rebane used single-molecule optical tweezers to study the assembly of SNARE proteins. His postdoctoral research at the Yale School of Medicine focused on how liquid–liquid phase separation of membrane proteins might shape and maintain the architecture of the Golgi apparatus. He worked at ETH Zürich to study the emergent properties of metabolically active droplets of phase-separated proteins, where he was awarded the Ambizione grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation.
In his lecture, Prof. Rebane explored how macromolecular crowding influences intracellular phase behaviour, presenting a universal entropic parameter that quantitatively describes PEG-induced phase separation across diverse protein systems. His work, grounded in Generalized Free Volume Theory (GFVT), offers a deeper understanding of entropic crowding mechanisms and establishes a unified framework for studying protein solubility and phase behaviour under physiological conditions.
It was a pleasure to host Dr. Rebane and engage with his pioneering insights at the interface of biophysics and molecular thermodynamics.
Title: Scaling Law for PEG-induced Macromolecular Crowdin
Speaker: Prof. Aleksander Rebane, Assistant Professor at NYU Abu Dhabi
Venue: Seminar Hall A, Ground Floor, Biosciences and Bioengineering Department, IIT Bombay
Date: 14 October 2025
Time: 3:30 PM
