How do single molecules move in and out of condensates?

Cells organize their interior into functional compartments, some without an enclosing membrane. These dense liquid droplets of biomolecules coexist with the surrounding environment like oil drops in water constantly exchanging material with it. How is the random movement of single biomolecules influenced by the presence of these droplets? In this video, we explain our recent work published in Phys. Rev. Research, answering this question.

Video created by Stefano Bo and Mariona Esquerda Ciutat of the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems in Dresden, Germany.