Max Delbruck Prize in Biological Physics Talk: The Physics of Cellular Proteostasis

In order for cells to function, their proteins must be folded and not aggregated. This healthy state is maintained by a complex energy-expensive system of chaperones, and synthesis and degradation machinery. This is among the most central and complex `decision-making' processes of simple cells. We model proteostasis by combining the dynamics of the chaperone binding and trafficking with the kinetics of protein folding and aggregation. We also explore the rates of evolution of protein sequences and how the chaperones modulate those rates.