Nicolas Fawzi, Brown University, leads a team using NMR spectroscopy, molecular simulation, microscopy, and cell assays to probe disordered protein domain assembly and function. Disordered domains of RNA binding proteins aggregate in several neurodegenerative diseases and mediate formation of functional, liquid, membraneless organelles. Nick's group probes the structure of these protein (including TDP-43, FUS, hnRNPA2) within in vitro models of these organelles, the mechanistic structural changes due to disease-causing mutations, the ability of post-translational modification to alter assembly.