Skip to main contentTools of the TradePublished: 31 July 2025Emma Pasquier ORCID: orcid.org/0009-0005-7714-316X1 &Chems Amari1 Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology (2025)Cite this articleSubjectsOrganellesProtein engineeringSynthetic biologyCompartmentalization is essential for the correct function of eukaryotic cells, and many biomolecules and biochemical events are localized in organelles, which are in a dynamic flux of material or information with other cellular compartments. Understanding the interplay between organelles and the orchestration of these fluxes is a major challenge of cellular biology. A widespread approach to studying these questions is perturbing the system, for example using genetic, chemical or physical approaches. However, most of these techniques lack specificity or temporal resolution, requiring the development of new tools.ControLD provides an efficient and versatile approach to physically isolate an organelle of interest. This perturbative approach does not rely on prior knowledge or hypotheses on the proteins or pathways involved in inter-organelle communication and is instead focused on building a physical barrier around a target organelle. This method presents the advantage of biological orthogonality, compared to chemical inhibitors disrupting an entire signalling cascade, while remaining highly specific to organelles and fully reversible. We envision that this tool could be used to gain a better understanding of how and when organelles exchange biomolecules, and of the implications of organelle sequestration for the biochemistry of the cell.This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institutionAccess optionsAccess Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journalsGet Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription27,99 € / 30 dayscancel any timeLearn moreSubscribe to this journalReceive 12 print issues and online access209,00 € per yearonly 17,42 € per issueLearn moreBuy this articlePurchase on SpringerLinkInstant access to full article PDFBuy nowPrices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkoutReferencesOriginal ArticleAmari, C. et al. Controlling lipid droplet dynamics via tether condensates. Nat. Chem. Biol. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41589-025-01915-2 (2025)Article Google Scholar Related ArticleCochard, A. et al. RNA at the surface of phase-separated condensates impacts their size and number. Biophys. J. 121, 1675–1690 (2022)CAS Google Scholar Download referencesAuthor informationAuthors and AffiliationsChemistry Department, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, FranceEmma Pasquier & Chems AmariAuthorsEmma PasquierView author publicationsSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarChems AmariView author publicationsSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarCorresponding authorsCorrespondence to Emma Pasquier or Chems Amari.Ethics declarationsRights and permissionsReprints and permissionsAbout this article