{"id":242883,"date":"2026-08-19T05:20:52","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T10:20:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/08\/sound-based-traps-reveal-how-fragile-biomolecular-droplets-move-merge-and-change-stiffness"},"modified":"2026-08-19T05:20:52","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T10:20:52","slug":"sound-based-traps-reveal-how-fragile-biomolecular-droplets-move-merge-and-change-stiffness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/08\/sound-based-traps-reveal-how-fragile-biomolecular-droplets-move-merge-and-change-stiffness","title":{"rendered":"Sound-based traps reveal how fragile biomolecular droplets move, merge and change stiffness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<p><iframe style=\"display: block; margin: 0 auto; width: 100%; aspect-ratio: 4\/3; object-fit: contain;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/y29g5yLFcMw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope;\n   picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Being able to measure something plays a vital role in our ability to understand many phenomena. But measuring can often affect what we are trying to measure. This is particularly the case when measuring substances that are very small, soft or fragile. In a recent study <a href=\"https:\/\/link.aps.org\/doi\/10.1103\/kl9v-5ywv\" target=\"_blank\">published<\/a> in <i>PRX Life<\/i>, a research team led by the University of Osaka successfully used acoustic tweezers as a contactless method to investigate an important type of fragile material called biopolymer condensates.<\/p>\n<p>Biopolymer condensates are liquid-like droplets composed of proteins and\/or nucleic acids and are involved in regulating a variety of physiological functions within cells to keep them healthy. However, problems with these droplet systems can result in a variety of diseases, including neurodegenerative diseases. The mechanical properties of biopolymer droplets, such as fluidity and stiffness, are important for biological activity.<\/p>\n<p>Better knowledge of the mechanical properties of these droplets will help us understand their roles in healthy cells and disease states. However, these droplets are very small and fragile and are difficult to investigate using conventional techniques.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Being able to measure something plays a vital role in our ability to understand many phenomena. But measuring can often affect what we are trying to measure. This is particularly the case when measuring substances that are very small, soft or fragile. In a recent study published in PRX Life, a research team led by [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":427,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-242883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biotech-medical","category-neuroscience"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/427"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242883\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}