Cellular translation is responsible for the synthesis of proteins, a highly diverse class of macromolecules that form the basis of biological function. In Escherichia coli, harnessing and engineering of the biomolecular components of translation, such as ribosomes, transfer RNAs (tRNAs) and aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases, has led to both biotechnology products (i.e.,...
Protein-based biomaterials are widely used in biomedical applications and mechanical support because of their novel structural flexibility, biocompatibility and mechanical properties. Protein-based biomaterials outperform traditional synthetic materials in various environments as traditional materials lack the diverse chemical functionalities that proteins offer. Novel bioinspired techniques such as directed evolution offer the...
Protein-protein interactions are ubiquitous in living systems, and mediate important cellular processes from decision making to immunity against pathogens. Furthermore, protein-protein interactions are key to many protein therapeutics, pathogen diagnostics, and numerous synthetic biology applications. As a result, there has been significant effort to develop methods to express potential protein...
No two cells in a population are identical to each other. Cell populations are almost universally heterogeneous, with their heterogeneity or variability often underlying complex emergent behavior and phenotypes. Heterogeneity presents a challenge to the discovery, characterization, and control of multicellular systems. Heterogeneity exists across multiple scales, ranging from the...
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies marry advances in cellular engineering with personalized medicine to provide patient-specific, targeted cancer treatments. Though current CAR T-cell therapies successfully target blood cell cancers, treating solid tumors has proven to be more challenging. Solid-tumor CAR designs must overcome several challenges, including tumor microenvironment barriers...
Biological therapeutics have revolutionized the way we treat cancer due to their ability to target tumors discriminately, leaving healthy cells unaffected. However, our inability to tailor the structure of biologics may hamper their optimization for efficacy. This lack of programmability contributes to factors such as immunogenic responses, inability to penetrate...
The Escherichia coli ribosome is a molecular machine capable of sequence-defined polymerization of -amino acids into proteins, a feat unmatched by any other current synthetic catalyst. It is complex in its structure, comprised of 3 RNA parts (the 5S, 16S, and 23S ribosomal RNAs) and 54 ribosomal proteins (r-proteins). Efforts...
By 2030, up to half of the world’s population is projected to suffer from water insecurity: a chronic scarcity of potable water due to rapidly warming temperatures, increased agricultural demand, and pollution. The health impacts of contaminated water are profound: hundreds of thousands of global deaths each year are ascribed...
While metabolic engineering can enable the sustainable bioproduction of new materials, efforts are often impeded by pathway bottlenecks. To mitigate the effects of toxic or reactive intermediates and resource competition resulting from heterologous pathway incorporation, bacterial microcompartments (MCPs) have recently been considered for engineered compartmentalization in bacterial host organisms. MCPs...
Currently, platelet transfusions, possessing profound clinical importance in the clotting of blood and healing of wounds, are entirely derived from human volunteer donors. This approach is limited by a 5-day shelf life, the potential risk of contamination, and differences in donor/recipient immunology. In vivo, platelets are formed when bone marrow...