Molecular mechanisms for hereditary of cataract.

Liquid–liquid phase separation occurs in young mammalian eye lenses and in concentrated solutions of isolated eye lens proteins, and has been linked to some forms of cataract. The team of Prof. Giuseppe Foffi (Computational and Theoretical Soft Matter) studied theoretically the protein compositions and cloud temperatures of two separated equilibrium phases that form out of concentrated mixtures of model proteins, chosen to have properties similar to those which reproduce experimental data on mixtures of two of the prevalent mammalian eye lens proteins, γ- and α-crystallin.

Nicolas Dorsaz et al.,Soft Matter, 2011, 7, 1763-1776