Organizing communities in a crowd: from protein folding in vitro to hierarchical assembly in vivo*

Inside a cell, heterotypic proteins organize in inhomogeneous, crowded systems where the abundance of these proteins varies with cell types.  While some protein complexes form putative structures that can be visualized with imaging, far more protein complexes with subunits are yet to be solved because of their dynamic associations. I will share my journey in the interdisciplinary field of biological physics. On the research track, I propose to model protein assemblies through the constraints of interactions among the subunits and the chemical potential of each subunit, continuing my lifelong passion to understand what matters to proteins making them the building blocks of living matter. On the career track, I will share my stories about what matters to me when I build a fulfilling work and life.