Portable, on-demand biomolecular manufacturing

• Keith Pardee ^[1] ; Shimyn Slomovic ^[2] ; Peter Q. Nguyen ^[3]
  1. [1] University of Toronto

     University of Toronto

     Canadá

     
  2. [2] Massachusetts Institute of Technology

     Massachusetts Institute of Technology

     City of Cambridge, Estados Unidos

     
  3. [3] Harvard University

     Harvard University

     City of Cambridge, Estados Unidos

     

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• Localización: Cell, ISSN 0092-8674, Vol. 167, Nº. 1, 2016, págs. 248-259
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Synthetic biology uses living cells as molecular foundries for the biosynthesis of drugs, therapeutic proteins, and other commodities. However, the need for specialized equipment and refrigeration for production and distribution poses a challenge for the delivery of these technologies to the field and to low-resource areas. Here, we present a portable platform that provides the means for on-site, on-demand manufacturing of therapeutics and biomolecules. This flexible system is based on reaction pellets composed of freeze-dried, cell-free transcription and translation machinery, which can be easily hydrated and utilized for biosynthesis through the addition of DNA encoding the desired output. We demonstrate this approach with the manufacture and functional validation of antimicrobial peptides and vaccines and present combinatorial methods for the production of antibody conjugates and small molecules. This synthetic biology platform resolves important practical limitations in the production and distribution of therapeutics and molecular tools, both to the developed and developing world.