Inside every human cell, six feet of DNA and thousands of RNAs and proteins are packed into a tiny nucleus. This raises the question: How is the cell able to execute various complex reactions like gene regulation, RNA splicing, and ribosome assembly in this crowded molecular environment? Importantly, these molecules are not organized as a random tangle. Instead, DNA, RNA, and proteins of shared functions organize in specialized compartments called nuclear bodies, or biomolecular condensates. The most prominent of these, the nucleolus, acts as a massive factory, bringing together thousands of genes, RNAs, and proteins for ribosome assembly.

Nuclear bodies and biomolecular condensates are dynamic—changing in size and number across cell states and in diseases like cancer and neurodegeneration. Yet, despite being discovered over 200 years ago, their roles remain mysterious. Do nuclear bodies simply store factors or actively accelerate critical cellular reactions? Does their dysregulation lead to disease? These questions have persisted because we lacked tools to measure and dissect the structure and function of condensates.

Our lab is building cutting-edge tools to tackle these questions. We combine genomics, RNA biology, and super-resolution microscopy to uncover how nuclear bodies and other condensates organize molecules in the cell to orchestrate RNA processing, gene regulation, and more. Our goal is to reveal principles underlying nuclear organization, cellular compartmentalization, and RNA metabolism—and how their disruption contributes to various diseases.