<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue;"><font face="HelveticaNeue">Dear Soft Matter & Complex Systems Colleagues and Friends,</font></div><div><div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue;"><font face="HelveticaNeue"><br></font></div><div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue;"><font face="HelveticaNeue">On Friday 12 December 2025 at 9:30 AM at the UW Faculty of Physics (Pasteura 5, Warsaw; room 1.40) we are hosting a seminar, during which </font></div><div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue;"><font face="HelveticaNeue"><br></font></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;"><font face="HelveticaNeue" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue;"><b>Anna Niedźwiecka</b></font><font face="HelveticaNeue" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue;"><b> </b>(</font><font face="HelveticaNeue">Laboratory of Biological Physics, Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland)</font></div><div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue; margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;"><font face="HelveticaNeue"><br></font></div><div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue; margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"><font face="HelveticaNeue">will give a talk</font></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;"><div><h2 style="margin: 6px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;"><font face="HelveticaNeue"><span style="font-size: 12px;">From protein disorder to liquid-liquid phase separation and biomineral order</span></font></h2><h2 style="font-family: HelveticaNeue; margin: 6px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;"><b style="caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68);"><font face="HelveticaNeue" style="font-size: 12px;">Abstract</font></b></h2></div><div><font face="HelveticaNeue">Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) are a class of biomolecules whose conformational flexibility is essential for key biological processes. Highly charged polyanionic proteins, in particular, are responsible for the regulation of biomineralisation by living organisms. We have proposed a physical framework that links the hydrodynamic and electrostatic properties of intrinsically disordered, acid-rich proteins with their function in biomineralisation, whereby the sequence-encoded charge distribution determines the hydrodynamic dimensions and flexibility of the protein chain, the local binding affinity regulates condensation behaviour, and liquid condensates that form in crowded conditions provide microenvironments that control mineral nucleation, growth, and edge development. This cascade: from protein structural disorder, through hydrodynamic behaviour and electrostatic collapse, to the formation of phase-separated liquid precursors of solid phases—represents a universal mechanism by which soft, dynamic biomolecular systems can control the formation of solid-state materials.</font></div><div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue;"><br></div></div><div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue; margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"><font face="HelveticaNeue">We warmly welcome everyone to attend the talk and the Soft Matter Coffee Break after the seminar, held in room 2.63 (2nd floor).</font></div></div><div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue;"><font face="HelveticaNeue"><br></font></div><div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"><font face="HelveticaNeue">Maria Ekiel-Jeżewska</font></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"><font face="HelveticaNeue">Maciej Lisicki</font></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"><font face="HelveticaNeue">Piotr Szymczak</font></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"><font face="HelveticaNeue">Panagiotis Theodorakis</font></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>