# Function and Regulation of Stress-Induced Adaptive Condensates

> **NIH NIH R35** · UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO · 2024 · $120,900

## Abstract

Project Summary from the Parent Award
A conceptual and empirical revolution is occurring in our understanding of the eukaryotic heat-shock response.
Heat shock has long been conceived of as a proteotoxic stress, triggering formation of toxic aggregates of
denatured proteins, which must be cleaned up by induced heat shock proteins. Recent results from our group
and others have established a complementary paradigm: temperature acts as a physiological signal, triggering
the adaptive formation of biomolecular condensates with specific cellular functions, and the condensation
process is regulated by heat shock proteins. Crucially, in the proteotoxic model, aggregates are trash, but in the
adaptive condensation model, they are functional treasure. Using an integrated set of biochemical, cell biological,
and evolutionary approaches established over the past decade, we are pursuing three linked areas: 1) identifying
and dissecting the cellular functions of particular heat-shock and stress-induced condensates of protein and
mRNA; 2) studying the regulation of condensation and dispersal, focusing on the specificity of physiological
condensates and their remodeling and reversal by stress-induced molecular chaperones; and 3) probing the
sensation and transduction of temperature into adaptive responses in fungi which rely on warm-blooded hosts
for growth or dispersal, and in the temperature-dependent activation of cells in the vertebrate immune system
during fever. In addition to fundamental insights into the operation and organization of eukaryotic cells, these
studies promise to shed light on intracellular aggregation processes known to be dysregulated during
neurodegenerative disease, uncover new mechanisms for the control of fungi, and provide new molecular insight
into how fever promotes immune-cell activation.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11037616
- **Project number:** 3R35GM144278-03S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
- **Principal Investigator:** David Allan Drummond
- **Activity code:** R35 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $120,900
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2022-01-01 → 2026-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11037616

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11037616, Function and Regulation of Stress-Induced Adaptive Condensates (3R35GM144278-03S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11037616. Licensed CC0.

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