Mechanochemistry of Inflammation
Our Research
Our research is driven by curiosity. We aim to understand the fundamental mechanisms underlying the self-organization of living matter. To that end, our computational lab combines concepts from theoretical physics and chemistry to elucidate how cells organize thousands of different biomolecules in the nucleus through a combination of molecular interactions, mechanical forces, and energy consumption.
More specifically, we investigate how chemical and mechanical signals control the nucleoplasm and genome organization in healthy cells and thereby coordinate vital processes such as gene transcription, splicing, and ribosomal assembly. These processes are often perturbed in pathologies. To improve our understanding of human pathologies, we investigate how cellular signals are hijacked during infection and inflammation. Our vision is to integrate the physical principles of biological organization to understand how cell and tissue homeostasis are affected by the expression of viral proteins during infection, cytokine signaling during inflammation, and restored upon recovery.
Our main research projects are:
- Innate immunity and inflammation: resource reallocation and optimal control.
- Active chemical control of phase separation in cells.
- Active mechanical control of biomolecular condensate and chromatin dynamics.
Active mechanical control of biomolecular condensate and chromatin dynamics.
The research group “Mechanochemistry of Inflammation” is a joint research group of the HZI and the Lower Saxony Center for AI & Causal Methods in Medicine (CAIMed).
Our Research
Our research is driven by curiosity. We aim to understand the fundamental mechanisms underlying the self-organization of living matter. To that end, our computational lab combines concepts from theoretical physics and chemistry to elucidate how cells organize thousands of different biomolecules in the nucleus through a combination of molecular interactions, mechanical forces, and energy consumption.
More specifically, we investigate how chemical and mechanical signals control the nucleoplasm and genome organization in healthy cells and thereby coordinate vital processes such as gene transcription, splicing, and ribosomal assembly. These processes are often perturbed in pathologies. To improve our understanding of human pathologies, we investigate how cellular signals are hijacked during infection and inflammation. Our vision is to integrate the physical principles of biological organization to understand how cell and tissue homeostasis are affected by the expression of viral proteins during infection, cytokine signaling during inflammation, and restored upon recovery.
Our main research projects are:
- Innate immunity and inflammation: resource reallocation and optimal control.
- Active chemical control of phase separation in cells.
- Active mechanical control of biomolecular condensate and chromatin dynamics.
Active mechanical control of biomolecular condensate and chromatin dynamics.
The research group “Mechanochemistry of Inflammation” is a joint research group of the HZI and the Lower Saxony Center for AI & Causal Methods in Medicine (CAIMed).
Prof Dr Andriy Goychuk
Mathematical and biophysical modeling can help us understand the principles guiding intra- and multicellular organization and organ function.
Andriy Goychuk leads a research group at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research and the Lower Saxony Center for AI & Causal Methods in Medicine starting 2025. Before that, he was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was also supported by the European Molecular Biology Organization. He completed his PhD in Physics in 2021, at the Ludwig-Maximilian-University of Munich, where he was supported by the Graduate School of Quantitative Biosciences Munich.
Dr. Goychuk is interested in understanding the self-organization of living matter across scales, ranging from inflammatory processes and cell dynamics on the tissue scale, to organization in the cell nucleus, to the dynamics of proteins. To that end, he applies and develops theoretical models based on biophysics, statistical mechanics, fluid mechanics, and nonlinear dynamics.
Selected Publications
S. F. Banani*, A. Goychuk*, P. Natarajan*, M. M. Zheng*, G. Dall’Agnese, J. E. Henninger, M. Kardar, R. A. Young, and A. K. Chakraborty. Active RNA synthesis patterns nuclear condensates. bioRxiv 2024.10.12.614958 (2024), https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.10.12.614958
D. Goh, D. Kannan, P. Natarajan, A. Goychukc, and A. K. ChakrabortyC. RNA gradients can guide condensates toward promoters: implications for enhancer-promoter contacts and condensate-promoter kissing. J. Chem. Phys. 163, 104905 (2025), https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0277838
A. Goychukc, D. Kannan, and M. KardarC. Delayed excitations induce polymer looping and coherent motion. Phys. Rev. Lett. 133, 078101 (2024), https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.133.078101
A. Goychuk*,c, L. Demarchi*, I. Maryshev, and E. FreyC. Self-consistent sharp interface theory of active condensate dynamics. Phys. Rev. Research 6, 033082 (2024), https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.6.033082
A. Goychuk*, D. Kannan*, A. K. Chakraborty, and M. Kardar. Polymer folding through active processes recreates features of genome organization. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 120 (20) e2221726120 (2023), https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2221726120
* Indicates publications with shared first authorship
C Indicates publications with shared corresponding authorship
Publications
A complete list of publications can be found here.
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